
L 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 



THE EXISTENCE OE A GOD 



HUMAN IMMORTALITY 



PHILOSOPHICALLY CONSIDERED, 



THE TRUTH OF DIVINE REVELATION SUBSTANTIATED. 



BY 

JOHN BOVEE DODS, 

it 

AUTHOR OF "THIRTY SHORT SERMONS," "PHILOSOPHY OF MESMERISM," 

"PHILOSOPHY OF ELECTRICAL PSYCHOLOGY," "EULOGY ON GENERAL 

Z. TAYLOR, TWELFTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES," 

ETC., ETC. 



FIRST EDITION. 



NEW YORK: 

PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR, 
BY FOWLERS AND WELLS, 

129 NASSAU STREET. 

1852, 



nH 



'STlz 









Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by 

JOHN BOVEE DODS, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 
District of New York. 



GIFT 
BB*T*AM SMITH 

ft <f 33 



STEREOTYPED BY WILLIAM J. BANER. 

201 Williara-st., N. Y. 



TO 



Jura Jtnmtli, 



GOVERNOR OF HUNGARY ; THE DISTINGUISHED APOSTLE AND 
ELOQUENT DEFENDER OF 

CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, 

THE CHRISTIAN PHILANTHROPIST, AND THE ILLUSTRIOUS GUEST 
OF THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

STjns Jgumfele Volume 

IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY 

THE AUTHOR. 

New York, Jan. 1, 1852. 




VH- 



CONTENTS, 



Pages 

DEDICATION 3 

INTRODUCTION 4-6 

CHAPTER I. 

GENERAL CAUSES OF INFIDELITY 13-23 

The general course pursued by clergymen in regard to new dis- 
coveries in science — Their fears that something in nature will 
contradict the Bible — Some noble exceptions to this course 
among them — In this they are perhaps honest — Too many 
have entered the ministry unqualified as to scientific attain- 
ments — Are ignorant of the volume of Nature, which is elder 
Scripture — It embraces the Old and New Testaments — It is 
a boundless Revelation, a Bible with Bible inclosed — It arms 
man with divinity — He who contemns it is a blasphemer — 
There is a handwriting on the rock — There is a voice in 
storms, thunders, earthquakes — Science and Christianity 
should be united in wedlock — The momentary existence of 
man on earth — We should speak our convictions fearlessly — 
General ideas of a future existence — But few philosophical • 
works against or in defense of human immortality — A grow- 
ing skepticism in the public mind — The causes of skepticism 
fully stated. 

CHAPTER II. 

DR. PALEY'S ARGUMENT ON THE BEING OF A GOD, 
REFUTED = 24-38 

Dr. Paley's argument has been generally adopted, that design 
proves intelligence and art — So far as it applies to a watch 
or machinery, it is correct ; applied to animal life, it fails — 
He has refuted his own argument — To what Atheism owes 
its existence in Christian lands — It is principally to some 
absurd ideas held by Christians, such as spirit being an im- 
materiality; that all things were created out of nothing; 
annihilation of matter, and of all creatures, except man — 
The absurdity of all these considered and proved — Objec- 
tions of the Atheist answered, as to the brain producing 
thought — The Bible rejects the idea of creating all things 
out of nothing — Not a particle more of matter now than there 
ever was, and never will be a particle less — There can be but 
one infinity of absolute perfection in existence— Annihilation 
is an absurdity. 



CENTS. % 



VI CONTENTS. 

Pages 

CHAPTER III, 

THE ARGUMENT OX HUMAN IMMORTALITY AXD THE 
EXISTENCE OF A GOD COMMENCED. THE POIXTS 
TO BE ARGUED 39-46 

The terras life, mind, or spirit defined — Vegetable life a spe- 
cies of mind — All life exists in God. from the highest intel- 
ligence down to the lowest vegetable life — These combined 
constitute perfect mind in Deity — The position assumed by 
the Atheist, that mind is the result of an organized brain, 
even as motion is the result of a well-finished watch — Proof 
that mind exists independent of a brain — Two grand objects 
in nature, mind and matter — The two defined — Vegetable 
life exists independent of vegetable organism — A field of 
wheat — The rose and its bush — The oak, all came from the 
life of the seed — All life is organism, and all inert matter is 
spherical — All life develops matter into organism. 

CHAPTER IV. 

DEVELOPMEXTS OF LIFE COXSIDERED 47-59 

What the vegetable life is to the production of the plant, the 
mind of man is to the production of the brain, and both as 
developing causes must have existed previous to the plant 
and brain, which are effects they produced — The Atheistic 
view of this subject — " Vestiges of Creation'* gives a state- 
ment of Mr. Crosse having produced animal life by galvan- 
ism — This statement fully met, and its claims to philosophy 
considered — Advice to Mr. Crosse — Let him produce vegeta- 
ble life by galvanism — Mind as an organized substance can- 
not be annihilated. 

CHAPTER V. 

PROOF OF AX IXFIXITE MIXD, AXD THE USE OF 
HIS EXISTENCE 59-69 

Insensibility of mind in death is no proof of its annihilation — 
Like begets like in organism — Moses is correct — All finites 
refer to the infinite ; finite mind to infinite mind : finite mat- 
ter to infinite matter — Figure of stamp developing itself in 
wax— Life and mind are the prototypes of all vegetable and 
animal forms — Objections of the Atheist considered. 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE LAWS OF NATURE DEFIXED— POSSESS XO POWER 
—ARE XOT CAUSES 70-80 

Queries presented to the Atheist — The inconsistency of law 
producing results — Laws are not things, but modes of action 
— Example of a watch considered — Noah, Moses, Solomon ^ 



CONTENTS. Vll 



and Cesar had no watches — Law of inert matter is eternal — 
Its inertia proved — Cause of motion considered — It exists in 
mind. 

CHAPTER VII. 

IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT IN THE WHOLE ANIMAL 
AND VEGETABLE CHAIN 81-91 

Electricity has no self-motion, even though it is the agent that , 
moves the universe — It is the agent of mind ; mind has self- 
motion, and is the primal cause of all other motion, which is 
but secondary — Each organ performs but one function — Mo- 
tion pertains to but one substance — There is in all substances, 
as we rise in the scale of matter, an approximation toward 
motion — The simplicity of the subject, when condensed, pre- 
sents but two objects in nature, which are mind and matter, 
and but two forms, which are organism and sphere — Defini- 
tion of mind in full — All mind is in God — Man a microcosm 
of the universe — The whole animal and vegetable chain con- 
sidered — The Hebrew text breathed the breath of lives — 
Proof of the existence of God concluded — Proof of the im- 
mortality of all animal and vegetable life concluded — Human 
immortality proved — Immortality triumphant in the future, > 
endless existence of the whole chain of life and being — 
Endless progression of the whole intellectual throng. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

TRUTH OF DIVINE REVELATION CONSIDERED.... 92-101 

Philosophical Axiom the plan of the argument — The various 
attacks of Atheists and Deists on the Bible — Volney as a 
writer, and his mode of attack — Paine as a writer, and his 
mode of attack ; both considered — The condensed form of the 
whole argument — Refutation of the positions of both Volney 
and Paine — Volney is candid — Paine is not candid — The high- 
toned honor and candor of the Scripture writers — The bar- 
barity of nations when Moses wrote — The divine writers will 
stand forever in their own greatness. 

CHAPTER IX. 

VOLUMES OF NATURE AND REVELATION COM- 
PARED : ---- 102-107 

Apparent contradictions in the volume of Revelation prove 
nothing — The same apparent contradictions in Nature prove 
nothing — If contradictions in Revelation prove the Bible 
false, then contradictions in Nature prove her book false — 
Instances of apparent contradiction in Nature's book point- 
ed out — Poisons and wholesome fruits— Storms and calms — 
Chemical non-affinities and affinities— Oil and water— Two 



Vlll CONTENTS. 



positive electric currents — Nature's laboratory — The posi- 
tion of Paine and his imitators — To prove the truth of di- 
vine Revelation, does not require an extended argument — 
It must be proved by a philosophical Axiom. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE POSITION TAKEN, AND THE ARGUMENT OPEN- 
ED 108-118 

The philosophical Axiom is the lion and his natural food, and 
the sheep and his food — The food of each reversed — They 
sicken, and feel pain — The human mind, and truth its food 
— Mind is fed by impressions — It requires its mental and 
moral sustenance to expand its powers, and make it happy, 
as the body does its food — Natural and moral right, and 
natural and moral wrong considered — The intellectual pow- 
ers, and moral powers, and the office of each — Natural and 
moral right may act separately, or in conjunction — Exam- 
ples given in the Heathen mother sacrificing her infant, and 
the Hindoo widow offering herself upon the funeral pyre — 
The doctrines of each brought to the test of the Axiom, and 
proved false, they are not the true food of the soul as they 
give pain, and do not unite duty and happiness in one — 
The Heathen religions considered as corruptions of that of 
Noah, Moses, and Christ — Philosophies of Greece and Rome 
prove insufficient to satisfy man. 



CHAPTER XL 

CHARACTER OF CHRIST— HIS DOCTRINE AND HIS 
PHILOSOPHICAL AXIOM 119-127 

Born and brought up a Jew, yet was devoid of national pe- 
culiarities — His greatness — His philanthropy — His humility 
— Moved alone to set up a kingdom, and a doctrine as its 
law — His uniform confidence of success — No power could de- 
molish either — He retained his confidence in the ultimate 
success of his doctrine through life, and in the agonies of 
death pronounced it finished — His obscure origin — The 
power of his eloquence — His doctrine yet stands, while 
those of Greece and Rome are gone — He lays down his own 
philosophical Axiom by which his doctrine may be tested — 
No other arguments are of any use to prove his doctrine 
true — We must not go our of the Bible to prove its truth, 
any more than out of nature to prove the truth of her book 
— The truths of both volumes are self-evident. 



CONTENTS. IX 

Pages 

CHAPTER XII. 

CHRIST ONLY HAS REVEALED GOD'S PATERNAL 
CHARACTER 128-133 

The importance of his own Axiom as one of moral philosophy, 
and by which truth and falsehood may be detected in any 
doctrine, whether Heathen or Christian — To prove the 
truth of his doctrine as a divine Revelation, there is no oc- 
casion of noticing all the moral precepts in the Old and 
New Testaments — The Old Testament writers do not call 
God Father in the sense the Son revealed Him— The Son 
only has given Him that name— Moses has not — The prophets 
have not — The name father, in the Old Testament, consid- 
ered from Genesis to Malachi — Was not known to them as 
belonging of right to God only— The Old Testament as a 
consistent introduction to the New — Its progressive light — 
Malachi stood between the two, look back to the Old, and 
forward to the sun of righteousness in the New. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

CHRIST'S REVELATION OF THE PATERNAL CHARAC- 
TER AND GOVERNMENT OF GOD, AND HIS DOC- 
TRINE OF HUMAN DESTINY 134-142 

The Old Testament names of God — Christ in the New, names 
Him the Father of himself and all mankind, exercising ever 
them a paternal government — Rewards and punishments are 
rendered in parental mercy as a law of our being — The res- 
urrection of the dead, and human destiny — The Father is 
unchangeable in all His perfections — The resurrection suc-^ 
cessive in an electrical body — Call no man Father — Say, our 
Father, which art in heaven — Old Testament writers and 
Heathens failed to discover the paternal character of God — 
It is glorious beyond conception of men or angels, as Christ 
revealed it. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

WHY SCIENCE AND CIVILIZATION EXTEND NO FAR- 
THER THAN THE BIBLE HAS THROWN ITS BEAMS 143-150 

The Heathen have a god for every thing ; a god of wind, wa- 
ter, fire, thunder, war, etc. — Homer, Cicero, Virgil, be- 
lieved in thirty thousand gods — Why are Atheists and Deists 
learned and moral — They were born in Christian lands — 
This would not have been the case, had they been born in 
heathen countries. 

CHAPTER XV. 

LANGUAGE IS A DIVINE REVELATION FROM GOD 

TO MAN r 151-160 

Idea of one God, if not recorded, will be lost, and many gods 



CONTENTS, 



substituted — All languages are derived from one language ; 
all gods are derived from the idea of one God — all Heathen 
religions are corruptions of the religion of Noah, Moses, or 
Christ — The Hebrew is the language of heaven — The chal- 
lenge to skeptics — The teachings of Christ in relation to the 
government of the Father, and our duty to Him and one an- 
other. 

CHAPTER XVI. 
PRECEPTS OF THE MASTER AND HIS COMPANIONS. 161-169 
Passages of Scripture — On our domestic duties — Character of 
public teachers and religious bodies — On our political duties 
— On promiscuous duties we owe to God, ourselves, and all 
mankind — The beatitudes — Charity. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE EFFECT HIS DOCTRINE IS DESTINED TO 
ACHIEVE 170-177 

Recapitulation of principal points — Rich exhibition of divine 
exuberance — He fulfills his own precepts in life, and his 
most difficult one for us to observe he fulfilled on the cross, 
by loving and forgiving his enemies, yes, his murderers — 
Sun of Righteousness compared with the natural sun. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

CHRIST'S DOCTRINE STANDS THE TEST OF HIS OWN 
GOLDEN AXIOM 178-185 

What a happy world, if Christ's precepts were obeyed ! — Hu- 
man governments would be lost in his kingdom of love in 
the soul — Love would be the supreme enthroned king — Ap- 
peal to the skeptic — The two scrolls — His doctrine unites 
duty and happiness in one — It is the true food of the soul — 
Bread and water sent me when dying with hunger or thirst 
— Immaterial from whom the doctrine came, an Indian or a 
Hottentot, it is still of God — Whether the Bible, as a divine 
Revelation, is proved, is submitted to the judgment of Chris- 
tians and skeptics. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST CONTRASTED WITH HEA- 
THEN PHILOSOPHY— HIS DEATH COMPARED WITH 
THAT OF SOCRATES 186-199 

The benevolence, love, and true magnanimity of the Master — 
His perfect knowledge of man and his wants. 

CHAPTER XX. 

A BRIEF NOTICE OF A PUBLISHED CORRESPOND- 
ENCE BETWEEN MISS MARTINEAU AND MR. AT- 
KINSON, BOTH OF ENGLAND— IN ITS CHARACTER 
ATHEISTIC 200 



INTRODUCTION. 



In the first seven chapters of this volume I have briefly 
investigated, and independently discussed, the Existence 
of a God, as the intelligent Creator and Governor of the 
universe ; the Immortality of man in a future state of be- 
ing, and the relation in which animal, and vegetable life 
stand to both God and man. In the last thirteen chapters 
I have, as I conceive, clearly and irresistibly proved the 
truth of divine Revelation by a Philosophical Axiom 
furnished us in the New Testament by our Saviour, and in 
the last chapter of the book I have bestowed a passing 
notice on the published letters of Miss Martineau and 
Mr. Atkinson, both of England. 

The above four great and interesting subjects, that I 
have philosophically considered, embrace matter sufficient 
for at least four volumes of three hundred pages each, 
and hence I have been compelled to study condensation 
as well as brevity throughout, and in several instances to 
classify the materials of my subject in order to effect this 
end. Sensible of the solemnity and vast importance of 
my subject to man, and of the deep and thrilling interest 
that every reflecting mind must naturally feel in regard to 
its present happiness and future destiny, it should be read 
and understood by all. And as voluminous works are 
owned and read by comparatively but few individuals, 
not only on account of their price, but the discouraging 
thought of wading through an ocean of words, often of 
extraneous matter, to gain the desired information, so I 
have labored to obviate these objections, by presenting 
the great and important points of the subject in a small 
volume, which is offered as a cheap Pocket Companion 
to the Christian community. 

It may be called " A Short and Easy Way with Athe- 
ists and Deists." I have candid! v endeavored to meet 



XII INTRODUCTION, 

them on their own ground, and to dispute it with them 
inch by inch ; and whether they are uttterly refuted or 
not, is submitted to the impartial tribunal of public opin- 
ion. I have grappled only with the great and important 
positions of my opposers, and brought in array against 
them all the important points involved in the interesting 
subjects I have treated, and passed over those of minor 
consideration, many of which would have been, no doubt, 
not only interesting but valuable to the reader. And to 
make myself entirely intelligible to the humblest capacity, 
and to benefit the rising generation, I have studied plain- 
ness of speech, and even presented each great truth in 
various forms of argument, so as by this mode of repeti- 
tion to make the impression deep and lasting by a single 
perusal. Notwithstanding the condensed and brief form 
of the argument, this repetition I found to be indispens- 
ably necessary in order to produce the desired result, 
which is impression. 

In my Sixth and Seventh Lectures on the " Philosophy 
of Electrical Psychology," I attempt to prove the ex- 
istence of an intelligent Creator from Motion, and also 
speak of the successive order in which the vegetable and 
animal creation were produced, and there state that they 
were all immortal. Several distinguished gentlemen who 
had perused the above work, have written me from va- 
rious sections of the United States — some requesting me 
to write a work exclusively on the being of a God — some 
urging a work on human Immortality — some on the truth 
of divine Revelation, and one of my learned friends wrote 
desiring to know what evidence I could produce that the 
human race would exist in a future, immortal state of be- 
ing, if the whole animal creation were to be annihilated ! 
These communications, in connection with the urgent 
verbal requests of several of my literary friends, have in- 
duced me to present my views in. this brief form upon 
the various subjects of inquiry. Finally, that they may 
convey consolation to the bereaved, and hope and joy to the 
dying, is the sincere desire and praver of the Author. 

J. B. DODS. 
New York, Jan. 1 } 1852. 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 



CHAPTER I. 

It is a circumstance deeply to be regretted, that 
clergymen have, in all ages since the Christian era, 
so managed as to give the general impression, that 
they were fearful that some greater light might lie 
concealed in the Book of Nature that would, when dis- 
covered, at least eclipse, if not extinguish, the undying 
light of Revelation. Hence they have opposed and 
resisted each rising science in its turn, as it was strug- 
gling into life, and have exerted every effort to blast it 
in the bud of its being ; or if suddenly born into ex- 
istence, they have labored to crush it in the cradle of 
its infancy. To this course of procedure, there have 
been, and still are, some proud exceptions standing 
out against the tide of sectarian party, firm, like some 
verdant, rock-bound island in the bosom of the ocean, 
unshaken by its waves — unmoved by its storms ! In 
their opposition to each rising science, I have no ques- 



14 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

tion of their sincerity and candor, as they were fearful 
it might clash with the teachings of divine Revelation. 
But their " zeal was not according to knowledge" when 
kindled in such a cause, and moving them to exert 
their powers and direct their influence to such an un- 
worthy end. 

It is, indeed, a humiliating consideration, that too 
many have entered the ministry who, though they pos- 
sessed every necessary moral and religious qualification 
for their profession, were nevertheless utterly ignorant 
of the sciences spread out above, around, and beneath 
them in the great Book of Nature written by the hand 
of the Eternal, and on whose sacred pages are no hu- 
man interpolations. It bears the impress of Divinity 
on its front, and the truth of Inspiration in the maj- 
esty of its being. They have no philosophy to per- 
ceive that our globe, planets, central sun, and those 
starry worlds that mantle the bosom of night, are but 
the books that make up the Old Testament of Nature, 
and contain the types and shadows, the earthly forms 
and ceremonies, and the letter of the law written for 
the perusal of all, and which past generations have 
contemplated with wonder — have studied with awe! 
And much less are they able to perceive, that electric- 
ity, a universal and invisible agent, and all the unseen 
powers, energies, and forces by which all worlds in 
immensity are moved, and all the multifarious opera- 
tions in their mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 15 

are carried on, are but the New Testament books of 
Nature now being revealed to our world. These sub- 
tile, unseen agents constitute the last Revelation of 
God to men, and will seal up the vision and the proph- 
ecy in relation to human knowledge, human perfection, 
and human destiny. The contemplation of these open 
pages, written in characters of brilliant suns and 
countless worlds, moving through immensity with the 
rapidity of the lightning's blaze, forces upon the mind 
those amazing conceptions of the oppressive grandeur 
of the subject that cause it to struggle ! but it is a 
struggle of never-ceasing delight. It is worthy the 
loftiest thought ! It is the starry diadem of Jehovah's 
glory ! 

In this all-perfect and boundless Revelation we see 
Bible with Bible inclosed ! — a wheel within a wheel ! 
Read our globe and all its visible wonders, and then 
read the invisible agents that move it and carry on all 
its operations, and you read the whole boundless Book 
of Nature's Old and New Testaments, the letter and 
its spirit in this microcosm abridgment. The clergy- 
man, who stands in the pulpit as a divine instructor, 
ignorant of this Book, is not qualified for his station. 
He lacks that which arms man with divinity. And 
he, who stands there, however learned he may be, and 
opposes any science that the Book of Nature unfolds, 
through the medium of some master mind, is a bold 
blasphemer, and unfit for his office. He stands there 



16 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

in self-complacency cursing his Creator by contemning 
the Book of Nature, which is elder Scripture written 
by God's own hand. 

There is an original and unmistakable handwriting 
on the rugged rock — in the lofty mountain — in the 
flowery field — in the shady grove — in the basined 
ocean — and in the deep strata of the globe. There, 
in defiance of the sneering bigot and the scoffer of 
science, it has stood in bold and indelible characters, 
for ages on ages, and there it will stand forever. And 
who can have the impiety to refuse to read the hand- 
writing of his God spread out before him in the vol- 
ume of nature? Not only is this handwriting seen, 
but there is a voice heard in the breathing wind — in 
the rushing storm — in the roaring ocean — in the rum- 
bling earthquake — and in the bursting thunder, speak- 
ing, free and unchained, the sentiments of nature, 
and imparting lessons of freedom to men. And who 
is so abject and cowardly a slave to the impulse of 
popular opinion and prejudice, that he dare not re- 
spond to the free, universal voice of nature, and speak 
openly and boldly the true sentiments of his heart? 
The freedom of the human soul, in the pursuit of sci- 
ence and truth, should be encouraged and rewarded, 
rather than opposed and denounced, so that man might 
be elevated to the highest dignity and grandeur of his 
nature. This work should be commenced in the pul- 
pit, so that the spirit of free inquiry might be the 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 17 

more speedily impressed upon the great mass of mind, 
and by making Science go hand-in-hand with Chris- 
tianity, as the Master and His inspired servants in- 
tended, a new and glorious reformation would dawn 
upon the world, and be hailed by every true philan- 
thropist with joy. 

Our present existence is momentary, and we should 
spend it in seeking for human happiness. " Life is 
but a vapor that appeareth for a little while and then 
vanisheth away." The younger are crowding the 
next older off the stage of action, as though each were 
anxious to exhibit his part in the strange and ever- 
changeful drama of life. Not a solitary individual 
re-enters the world's theater. All take their exit, and 
are known no more beneath the sun forever. Go to 
yonder graveyard, and there learn the only language 
of the tomb, the epitaph declaring that they once 
lived. Lettered stones and monuments are more in- 
structive than the once living thousands whose memo- 
ries they preserve from oblivion. All, except these, is 
speechless as the chambers of eternal silence ! No 
lingering spirits hover around their mouldering relics, 
whispering any intelligence of their present existence. 
The eternal country for which they seemed to embark 
returns us no intelligence of their safe arrival. We 
stand around the dying bed — follow them to the verge 
of time, and, standing on the shore of a vast ocean, 
we gaze with exquisite anxiety till the last dreadful 






18 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

struggle is over, and we see them sink in the fathom- 
less abyss ! We feel our own feet slide from the 
precarious brink on which we stand, and but few suns 
more, and we, too, shall be whelmed 'mid death's aw- 
ful waves. 

Such is the fate of man ! but aside from Revelation, 
is there no hope beyond this closing scene ? Is there 
no power in the arm of philosophy, Nature's eldest- 
born daughter, to snatch man from final death, and to 
sustain his faith and hope, by furnishing the proof of 
the being of a God, and his own consequent immor- 
tality? These, and also the truth of divine Revela- 
tion, are the interesting points to be argued. In 
accomplishing this task, I shall speak freely and fear- 
lessly the unchained convictions of my own mind, re- 
gardless of the opinions of men, and shall hold no one 
responsible for what I may utter. I believe, that 
there are those among Atheists and Deists as honest 
and sincere in their convictions as there are among 
Christians who are honest and sincere in theirs. De- 
nunciation does not become the scholar, the gentleman, 
and much less the Christian. All are brethren, hav- 
ing a common origin, a common interest, and a common 
destination. I shall therefore treat them with Chris- 
tian courtesy and respect, and my whole aim shall be 
to shed light upon a subject so full of deep and thrill- 
ing interest to us all. 

A future state of conscious existence for man, after 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 19 

he shall have passed the ordeal of death, has been the 
belief and cherished hope of all nations from the ear- 
liest periods of history down to the present day. To 
this, indeed, there are some exceptions now, and, for 
aught we know to the contrary, there may have been 
exceptions to this general belief through the long lapse 
of these intervening ages. The hope of a future ex- 
istence, having been so generally entertained and cher- 
ished by mankind in all ages of the world, seems to be 
innate in, the human bosom, and by many it has been, 
and still is, regarded in this light. 

The direct attacks upon the doctrine of human im- 
mortality, by any philosophical, ingenious, and well- 
written essay, have been few and far between. And 
this may be a principal reason why so few, if any, 
have, on the other hand, been published by the clergy 
in its defense. It has, however, been again and again 
indirectly assailed in various forms by different indi- 
viduals through books and pamphlets, and their argu- 
ments have been, in some instances at least, enforced 
by an ingenious display of talent, and a force of elo- 
quence, that have not only startled the public mind as 
with an electric shock, but have shipwrecked the faith 
and blasted the hope of many a parent and child of 
meeting again beyond the grave. When I say that 
this faith has been indirectly assailed, I mean by ar- 
guments intended to disprove the truth and sanctity 
of divine Revelation. So far as the faith and confi- 



20 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

dence of the community in the sacred Scriptures are 
shaken, so far are they likewise shaken in the truth 
of a future state of existence. But according to the 
rules of logic this should not be so, because to disprove 
the truth of divine Revelation most conclusively could 
not in the least affect the truth of human immortality. 
This might still be true, independent of any divine 
revelation concerning it being made to men. 

There are also arguments published intended to dis- 
prove the being of a God as an intelligent Spirit. 
And here I would remark, that both reason and phil- 
osophy most clearly teach, that if the existence of a 
Supreme Being could be conclusively disproved, this 
alone would overthrow not only divine revelation, but 
also the doctrine of a future existence, and prove our 
faith and hope in it to be a mere reverie of fancy — a 
bright but visionary dream ! Let the skeptic then 
gird himself to the herculean task, and call into action 
all his mental energies — let him for once put forth his 
proudest thought — grasp the subject with a giant arm, 
and disprove the existence of an infinite Intelligence, 
and his work is done. He buries divine Revelation, 
human hope, and human immortality, all in one com- 
mon grave ! But if philosophy refuses to lend her 
aid, as she uniformly has and ever must, to controvert 
successfully the existence of God, then there is no ar- 
gument within the grasp of human power to disprove 
the existence of our race in a future world — none to 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 21 

prove that death is the end of man, where the bright 
intellect shall be extinguished, and its affections for- 
ever cease to burn ! If there is a God who exists 
immortal, so shall his offspring, man, even though 
revelation were proved false as the baseless fabric of a 
visionary dream. ... 

It is a consideration, deeply to be regretted, that 
no publications, containing philosophical arguments in 
proof of the being of a God and human immortality 
are, in these days, placed in the hands of the public by 
those who stand at the sacred altar. The necessities 
of the age demand it, and it is the duty of divines to 
meet this demand. Their profession fits them for the 
task, inasmuch as it involves them in the constant con- 
templation of this sublime and interesting theme. Im- 
provements in machinery, and in the arts and sciences, 
are advancing with a speed unparalleled in the annals 
of history, and new light in various departments is con- 
tinually breaking on the world. They, too, should call 
the arm of philosophy and science to their aid, and 
shed their light and power upon the nature of spirit 
and the destiny of man, and meet the skeptic in the 
open fields of nature. 

There is evidently a secret and growing skepticism 
in the public mind in relation to a future state of exist- 
ence, and also the being of a God ; and though it may 
not, as a matter of policy, openly manifest itself, for 
fear of popular opinion, yet it is none the less clearly 



22 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

perceived in the frequent expression of doubts, not only 
by some of those in the common walks of life, but by 
some of the most intelligent and highly cultivated 
minds among the business community, and even among 
the learned professions. And yet many of these, as a 
matter of popularity > are constant in their attendance 
at the most fashionable churches in our cities and vil- 
lages, and pay liberally toward the support of a clergy- 
man. 

On a subject so grave and important as this, and 
one that involves the dearest interests of man, it may 
be well to inquire what are the operating causes that 
induce this state of things ? In answer to this, I would 
say, that there are newspapers established, and pam- 
phlets also issued for the purpose of propagating infidel 
sentiments, and through these the Scriptures, as a sys- 
tem of divine revelation, are openly assailed and ridi- 
culed ; and these are allowed to pass unanswered and even 
unnoticed, as being unworthy of serious consideration. 
But it is high time that the advocates of Christianity 
should be cautioned to beware of such indifference. 
An argument that would have no weight upon a gifted 
mind,, it should be remembered, might still unsettle, if 
not utterly shipwreck the faith of a more humble capa- 
city. In addition to the above, there are also books 
published by those professing to be believers in Chris- 
tianity, in which the sacred oracles are lightly spoken 
of, and the inspired writers of both Old and New Testa- 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 23 

ments are irreverently treated, and their pretensions 
exhibited in such a manner as to weaken public con- 
fidence in them as servants divinely inspired to reveal 
the will of God to men. 

These are, perhaps, the principal causes operating 
to destroy human faith and hope in a future state of 
existence, by first destroying their faith and confidence 
in the Bible as containing a divine revelation. These 
writers not being noticed is construed into an inability 
on the part of the clergy to refute them. And the 
ideas Christians generally entertain of God as a spirit, 
and of His attributes, and the manner in which many 
have reasoned to prove His existence, have driven many 
to Atheism. But permit me again to say, that could 
they ultimately succeed in demolishing the Book of 
books, and proving it a cunningly devised fable of hu- 
man invention, yet this circumstance could not in the 
least affect the truth of human immortality. This rests 
upon the being of a God — the nature of spirit, and was 
true long before the Bible had an existence. The Bible 
did not create man's immortality. It only professes to be 
the medium through which life and immortality were 
brought to light. It simply professes to reveal what 
previously existed as truth. 



24 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 



CHAPTEE II. 

As, then, the truth of human immortality must be 
proved either by a philosophical argument offered 
directly in its defense, or by proving the existence of 
God as an intelligent Spirit, so it may be said, that Dr. 
Paley has, in his " Natural Theology," most success- 
fully established the latter position, and hence all fur- 
ther arguments to prove the existence of a God are but 
a useless effort — a work of supererogation. While I 
freely admit that Dr. Paley has exercised much inge- 
nuity in handling the subject, that " design proves 
intelligence and art" yet I must confess that this ar- 
gument does not, in my apprehension, successfully 
prove the existence of an infinite Intelligence as the 
designer. As all who have written upon this interest- 
ing subject since the days of Paley have, so far as my 
knowledge extends, followed in his footsteps, and done 
but little more than to reiterate, in substance, his ar- 
guments, it may, perhaps, be necessary that I should 
notice this well known position, and candidly test its 
soundness. Indeed, its celebrity demands this at my 
hands. 

There is no occasion that I should follow him in the 



TMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 25 

numerous examples he has furnished as affording evi- 
dent traces of design and art to prove the existenc e of 
an intelligent designer and artist, who alone could 
have adapted means to ends. One will suffice as a 
specimen of the whole. He contends, for instance, 
that the several parts of a watch harmoniously ar- 
ranged to produce motion prove the existence of an in- 
telligent workman who planned and made it. He 
contends that there are so many adaptations of means 
to various ends — so much order, harmony, beauty, skill, 
and contrivance perceived, that it must have had a 
contriver — an intelligent cause adequate to the effect 
produced. This reasoning every sane man will admit 
to be correct. This being granted, I would now in- 
quire — is there any adaptation of means to ends ? or is 
there any beauty, order, or harmony in the several 
parts of the watch, or in the watch as a whole, that 
does not essentially exist in, and belong to the intelli- 
gent workman % Does not the whole exist in him, as 
the cause, that we see manifest in the watch, as the 
effect. This, Paley, in his argument, admits as a pre- 
paration to give the greater force to his second predi- 
cate. 

He then moves his position, a posteriori, one step 
farther back, making in his next argument man the 
effect, who in his first argument was the cause. It 
will here be borne in mind, that Dr. Paley has now 
left dead matter, and confines his reasoning to ani- 



26 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

mated existence, or life in both cause and effect. He 
argues that the mechanism of the human eye, and, in- 
deed, of the whole body — the adaptation of means to 
ends — and the beauty, order, and harmony of the en- 
tire structure most conclusively prove the existence of 
an intelligent workman who made it, and that this 
workman is God. He made man as certainly as man 
made the watch. Here the doctor rests his argument 
as incontrovertible. For the present let this be ad- 
mitted. 

To test the soundness of this reasoning, I would 
make still farther inquiries. Is there any adaptation 
of means to ends 1 is there any beauty, order, harmony, 
or glory in man as a whole, that does not essentially 
exist in, and belong to the maker who is God ? Does 
not the whole exist in God as the cause, that we see 
manifest in man as the effect? This I see no way to 
avoid in his present position any more than in his first. 
I would then pursue these queries one step farther. 
How came all this beauty, order, harmony and glory to 
exist in God? In Him are concentered all possible 
means adapted to ends that exist in man, and in all 
creatures that swarm in the universe. And as these 
imply intelligence and art, and prove an intelligent 
designer and maker — who made God ? Dr. Paley an- 
swers — no higher intelligence made Him ! He is abso- 
lutely eternal — exists as a matter of necessity, and all 
the harmonies of the universe forever existed in Him as 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 27 

the great first cause of all consequent causes and 
effects. 

The doctor has now overthrown his own argument ! 
What he contends exists in man, as most conclusive 
evidence of a previous intelligent designer, he now de- 
nies as being any evidence whatever ! This is clearly 
made manifest in the following queries : Does the 
adaptation of means to ends — do order, harmony, and 
beauty in man prove that he had a designer or Maker 1 
The doctor, without the least hesitation, answers yes! ■ 
But do these in the Deity prove that He had a designer 
or maker? The doctor now answers, no! Where 
then in the vast temple of philosophy is his argument 1 
Nowhere ! It never entered there. He left it at the 
door of her tabernacle, slain with his own weapon in 
the outer court. And there his followers have ever 
since continued to exhibit the ghost of his offering till 
the ceremony has become stale. On the doctor's own 
ground of reasoning the Atheist might step forward and 
say — that universal worlds — all their beauty, order, 
harmony, and glory, with all their adaptations of means 
to ends ; with all their countless varieties of vegetable 
and animal productions, and all their complicate or- 
ganisms, exist as a matter of necessity without any de- 
signer or maker ! And it will be perceived, that the 
argument of Dr. Paley, and the one I suggest for the 
Atheist, stand upon the same ground. The doctor 
only removed the difficulty one step farther back from 



28 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

the starting point, .without accounting for it. The 
Atheist may take it up where the doctor left it, re- 
move it one step farther back, and the force of the 
argument disappears. In this case they come out 
even, for nothing has been proved. 

A few moments' reflection will enable us to see the 
difficulty under which Dr. Paley labors, and the entire 
inaptitude of his argument to the subject under con- 
sideration. He commences with mechanism contrived 
and produced by human ingenuity out of dead matter. 
Now, it is readily perceived, and no one will dispute, 
that such mechanism proves the existence of an intelli- 
gent machinist who contrived and produced it. But 
this was accomplished, not according to a law of inter- 
nal development, but by external impressions on dead 
matter. This the Creator never has done, and never 
can do. The majesty and nature of His existence alike 
forbid it. He has never planned and built machinery, 
nor dwellings of minerals, wood, or stone, without using 
man as an instrument. Not a solitary instance of this 
kind can be produced under the whole canopy of heaven. 
These were constructed by external artificial impres- 
sions on dead matter. But the various organisms com- 
posing the bodies of animated existence, were produced 
out of dead matter according to a natural law of inter- 
nal development. They were produced by internal 
impressions of mind itself, which is eternal and living 
organism. The body is, therefore, in all its complicate 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 29 

parts, but a natural result of mind itself. The body 
is the natural development — the outward manifestation 
of the mind, independent of any previous design, or 
even thought, to mould, arrange, or adapt the several 
parts, or organisms, one to the other as means to ends. 
The body is but the complicate organism of the com- 
plicate mind, which is natural, eternal organism, 
and from which all adaptation of means to ends — 
all order, harmony, and beauty, are evolved as a natu- 
ral result. Invisible mind manifests itself in a visible 
organism. This will be more fully noticed hereafter. 
Hence we perceive, that the nature of the subject more 
properly requires us to reason, a priori, from cause to 
effect, than, a posteriori, from effect to cause. The lat- 
ter is the mode adopted and pursued by Dr. Paley. 

There is no question in my mind, that Atheism in 
Christian lands owes its existence to the erroneous 
opinions which the believers in a God and human im- 
mortality have honestly adopted, and the manner in 
which they have reasoned to sustain them. I am sen- 
sible, that the great obscurity in which this subject has 
been for ages involved, is owing to the circumstance, 
that three positions have been assumed, and taken for 
granted as true, without a single sound argument ever 
having been offered in their defense. The first of 
these positions is, that the infinite mind or spirit is an 
immateriality ! The second is, that this immaterial 
Spirit has created all things out of nothing ! And the 



30 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 

third is, that all creatures and things, except the human 
race, will be annihilated ! These three assumed posi- 
tions are alike un philosophical and absurd. And the 
general credence they have obtained in the public mind, 
and the superstitions they have naturally engendered, 
have been the cause of driving many a thinking mind 
honestly to adopt Atheism as the more rational system 
of the two. On each of these three I submit a few T re- 
marks. 

An immateriality is a nonentity — a nothing ! It is 
as much a violation of reason and common sense to con- 
tend, that the infinite Spirit is an immateriality, as to 
contend, that all things' were created out of nothing. 
And to contend, that the brute creation, many of which 
know more than some human beings, will be annihilated, 
is but to crush the bright hope of human immortality, 
and drive men into the regions of darkness, doubt, and 
skepticism. 

All matter, however fine and invisible its particles 
may be, has nevertheless some form. It must, as a 
matter of necessity, possess length, breadth, thickness, 
and occupy space. That it possesses these, as its na- 
tural attributes, reason admits as self-evident, and of 
these we cannot, even in imagination, divest it. To 
deny, that any particle of matter has length, breadth, 
thickness, or occupies any space, is but to deny its ex- 
istence. This is the united testimony of philosophy, 
reason, and common sense. On the same principle of 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 31 

induction, it conclusively and irresistibly follows, that 
if spirit is an immateriality, it cannot possess any of 
these attributes. And to say, that it possesses neither 
length, breadth, thickness, nor occupies any space, is 
but denying its existence, and asserting it to be nothing. 
The whole amount of its philosophy is, that the Creator 
of the universe and the spirits of all His intelligent off- 
spring, could be contained in a nut-shell as well as in 
infinite space ! This would be blasphemy. What 
name, then, shall we give the declaration, that He oc- 
cupies no space, because He is an immateriality ? To 
contend, that an immaterial Spirit created all things 
out of nothing, is only asserting, that nothing created 
all things out of nothing, than which nothing can be 
more absurd. Indeed, I am at a loss by what name 
to call it. It is profound absurdity seated supreme 
on its own throne! 

Though it is the commonly received opinion that all 
things were created out of nothing, yet in all ages of 
the Christian church, there have been some eminent 
men who have rejected this idea, and contended that 
all things were created out of matter. Among these 
was the celebrated John Milton, author of " Paradise 
Lost." He was at war with the idea, that all things 
were created out of nothing. In his " Treatise on 
Christian Doctrine," volume 1, pages 236 and 237, he 
says : "It is clear, then, that the world was framed 
out of matter of some kind or other. For since action 



32 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

and passion are relative terms, and since, consequently, 
no agent can act externally, unless there be some patient 
such as matter ; it appears impossible that God could 
have created this world out of nothing — not from any 
defect of power on His part — but because it was neces- 
sary that something should previously have existed ca- 
pable of receiving passively the exertion of the divine 
efficacy. Since, therefore, both Scripture and reason 
concur in pronouncing that all these things were made, 
not out of nothing, but out of matter," etc. 

So we perceive, Milton contends that both Scripture 
and reason teach, that all things were made out of mat- 
ter. Though we are not bound by the rules of logic to 
prove a negative, yet it is easy to prove that all things 
were not created out of nothing. To this end I will 
call into my service the following argument, contained 
in a published work of mine. 

We raise an axe, and at a single blow cut in two a 
piece one inch in diameter. Now it is certain that 
this wood was not severed instantly in all its parts. If 
it were, then the lower part would have been cut at 
the same time that the upper part was, which is per- 
fectly absurd and impossible. The axe certainly passed 
gradually through that wood and progressively separa- 
ted one grain after another. This we readily perceive. 
By instantly, we are to understand that no time shall 
elapse between the accomplishment of any two given acts. 
It may, however, be said, that there are bodies that 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 33 

move with greater velocity than this axe, so as to make 
the movement strictly instantaneous. I will then take 
another. There is nothing with which we are acquaint- 
ed that moves with greater velocity than electric light — 
its motion being about twelve million miles in a minute, 
Hence the passage of a ray of light from the sun to 
the earth would be about eight minutes. It is, there- 
fore, absurd to say, that a ray of light could be at the 
sun and at the earth at the same instant, as it w T ould 
allow no time for its passage. I will now apply the 
above argument to the subject before us. 

We know that there can be no intervening medium 
whatever between something and nothing — and if some- 
thing were created out of nothings it could not in the 
nature of things have been done progressively or gradu- 
ally. It is impossible, in the very nature of things, to lay 
hold on nothing and make it gradually nearer, and still 
nearer toward something, and yet not to be something, 
because the instant it became, in its creation, the least 
conceivable remove from nothing it would be something. 
It must, in the very nature of things, have remained 
nothing till it became something, for there can positive- 
ly be no gradation, as I have shown. If, then, nothing 
were ever created into something, it must have been 
done instantly ', in the true and absolute sense of this 
word. And if done instantly* it must have been some- 
thing and nothing at the same instant, which is ab- 
surd and impossible. It is just as absurd as to con- 



34 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

tend that the stick of wood could have been cut at the 
bottom at the same time it was at the top ; or that a 
ray of light could have been at the sun and at the 
earth at the same time. Hence all things could not have 
been created out of nothing. No inductive philosophy- 
can reach the subject — no algebra can approach it. 
What mathematician would undertake to demonstrate 
how many nothings it would rquire to make the first 
unit of something ? The whole result of the operation 
would unquestionably produce for answer (0) zero — 
Quod fuit demonstrandum ! 

It is by no means strange, that so much skepticism 
exists in the Christian world ! It is not strange that 
such sentiments incorporated with Christianity, and 
admitted to be the foundation on which the pillars of 
the superstructure rest, should induce thousands to 
renounce the immortality of mind, and to contend, that 
it is but the result of an organized brain, on which 
the blood and circulating forces operate and produce 
thought ! In proof of this, the Atheist contends, that 
the powers of each mind are phrenologically propor- 
tionate to the development or size of the brain, all 
other things being equal. But the position, that the 
circulating forces produce thought, cannot be sustain- 
ed, inasmuch as thought is suspended in sleep, while 
the blood still continues to flow and act upon the brain. 
Whereas, if thought were the result of an organized 
brain, moved by the circulating forces, we should con- 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 35 

tirme to think in sleep as we do when awake. The 
circumstance, that the mental powers are proportion- 
ate to the development of the brain, is no evidence 
that mind is the result of an organized brain, because 
it was the original capacity of mind itself in each in- 
dividual that developed a corresponding capacity of 
brain. 

On the other hand, I am well aware, that the advo- 
cates for the immateriality of mind endeavor to sustain 
their position by contending, that as thought has nei- 
ther length, breadth, thickness, nor occupies any space, 
so the immateriality of mind is unquestionably true. 
But in this case they mistake the effect for the cause. 
Thought is not mind, but the effect of it. There is 
something that thinks, and this something is mind. 
But if thought itself be mind, then mind is annihi- 
lated in sleep, inasmuch as thought ceases to exist. 
If it be said, that we think in our dreams — to this I 
reply, that in such cases we are not entirely asleep. 
If we are, why then do we not always dream in our 
sleeping moments ? This question is by them un- 
answerable. Mind, though a substance, is not, like 
dead matter, inert, but directly the reverse of this. 
It is its nature to move, when left unimpeded and free, 
and the effect of mind when in motion is thought. Let 
its motion be stilled by electro-nervous compression, 
as in sleep or otherwise, and thought ceases. Let it 
be released from this condition, it will again resume 



36 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

its motion, and thought is the result. Reason and all 
the mental manifestations are not mind, but the re- 
sults of mind while in motion. 

It is equally inconsistent to contend, that matter 
will be annihilated, and that all creatures, except man, 
will be blotted out from the catalogue of existence, 
and forever cease to be ! As the annihilation of mat- 
ter is but the counterpart of creating all things out of 
nothing, so its absurdity is clearly manifest, as its in- 
stant annihilation would require it to be something 
and nothing at the same instant. From whence the 
ideas of creating all things out of nothing and their 
ultimate annihilation originated, and how they obtain- 
ed credence in the Christian world is very difficult to 
determine; and more particularly so, when they set 
reason and common sense at defiance, while Revelation 
retains a silence upon the subject as profound as the 
grave. Not a word is there breathed about creating 
all things out of nothing, nor does the Hebrew word 
rendered create, as there used, convey such an idea, 
but rather the contrary. The Bible says — " God cre- 
ated man out of the dust of the earth." Here the 
word create is used in reference to an existing sub- 
stance. Again the Bible says — " The things that are 
seen were not made of things that do appear." Here 
is the declaration, that the substances seen were made 
of invisible substances, for by things are meant sub- 
stances. The Scriptures should not be made respon- 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 87 

sible for the senseless declarations contained in human 
creeds. If all things were made out of electricity, 
which is invisible, is diffused throughout immensity, 
and contains the primary elements of all visible things, 
then all is plain, and the Scriptures, on this subject, 
at least, are perfectly consistent. 

There is not a single particle more of matter in ex- 
istence now, than there ever was, nor will there ever 
be a single particle less than there is at the present 
moment. Absolute perfection is the natural impres- 
sion only of an absolute Infinity. When I say an ab- 
solute Infinity, I mean all that boundless space can 
contain of inert matter, and living, self-moving spirit, 
the whole involving unending duration. There can be 
but one Infinity in existence. When we say infinite 
space and infinite duration, we do not mean two infin- 
ities — because space and duration are not of them- 
selves things, but conditions in which things may be 
placed. There can be but One Infinity of absolute 
perfection in existence. 

If, then, all inert matter existing in immensity of 
space, whether formed into w T orlds, moving around their 
respective suns, or yet slumbering in the bosom of 
chaotic night — if the whole were created out of nothing, 
then there must have been a period when an absolute 
Infinity and its perfection had no existence ! And if 
the scattered atoms of matter, and all worlds now in 
being, shall at some future moment be annihilated, 

4 



88 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

then there will again be a period when an absolute In- 
finity and its perfection will have no existence. Yes 
— if even one single particle of matter were added to 
the infinite mass now in being, or taken away from it 
and annihilated, it would alike destroy the perfection 
and harmony of the one absolute Infinity, and prove 
as disastrous to animal and vegetable existence as 
though infinite space were suddenly filled with one in- 
finite globe, or that the whole were struck out of ex- 
istence, and left behind it a cheerless blank of deso- 
lation. 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 39 



CHAPTER III. 

The propositions to be argued are Three : The 
Existence of a God as an intelligent spirit — Hu- 
man Immortality — and the Truth of Divine Rev- 
elation. 

Either of the three above propositions contain matter 
sufficient for a separate volume. And as my space is 
restricted to a certain number of pages, of about four 
hours reading, so I am compelled to be brief upon each. 
Having made these general introductory observations 
to prepare the mind for the subject, I am now ready 
to take into consideration the being of a God and hu- 
man immortality. I choose to take them both into 
consideration, and involve them at once in the same 
argument. But in establishing these two interesting 
points, truth, and (strange as it may seem) brevity 
compel me to extend mv arguments to the whole ani- 
mal and vegetable creation, and include them in the 
vast and boundless theme of immortality. The posi- 
tions I have taken in the arguments already offered on 
creation, annihilation, mind, and matter, and on one 
infinity of absolute perfection, forbid me to exclude 
them. Indeed, the voice of philosophy, the powers of 



40 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

reason, and the impulses of benevolence united, call 
and invite me to enter this boundless field of endless 
variety. Christians, "who unceasingly speak of verd- 
ant groves, trees of life, and unwithering flowers, as 
figures, at least, fitly pertaining to a future world, will 
not condemn me for my present effort. 

As I am now ready to commence my argument, I 
desire it to be distinctly understood, that whenever I 
use the terms life, mind, or spirit, I mean one and 
the same thing, differing only in the degrees of intelli- 
gence, sensation, or motion in the individual existence 
to which I may apply them. I hold all life, whether 
animal or vegetable, to be a species of mind, in some 
one of the ever-varied links composing the vast chain 
of being, and consequently immortal. By this I mean, 
that there are as many varieties of life in God, the 
infinite fountain of Mind, as there are streams of life 
that issue from His being — as many as there are of 
elements in dead matter. And as all these elements 
combined, form one perfect body of dead, inert matter, 
so all the varieties of life combined, and corresponding 
to these, constitute one perfectly organized Mind as 
the only motive power. And these two combined con- 
stitute the one Infinity of absolute perfection. I now 
proceed to the argument. 

The Atheist contends, that mind is not an immortal 
substance or being, but the result of an organized 
brain. That as certain motions are the natural result 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 41 

of all the complicate parts of a well-finished watch, in 
accordance with the laws of its mechanism when wound 
up, so thought, reason, and all the various mental 
manifestations are the natural result of the human 
brain in accordance with the laws of its complicate 
organism. If this be so, then death is certainly the 
end of man, and human immortality is but a visionary 
dream ! This is making mind to be the eifect of an 
organized brain, even as motion is the effect of the 
mechanism of the watch. Destroy the mechanism of 
the watch, and motion is gone. Destroy the organism 
of the brain, and mind is no more ! Surely this is a 
contemplation of gloom as profound, as the end is mel- 
ancholy. As this is a subject of most deep and thrill- 
ing interest to every sensitive mind, let us take a calm 
and leisurely survey of the position here assumed by 
the Atheist, and see whether reason or the philosophy 
of nature will sustain him. 

If, then, I succeed in showing his position to be un- 
tenable and groundless, by proving that mind exists 
independent of an organized brain, and so far from 
being the effect of such organism is, in reality, the 
cause that produced it, then human immortality is es- 
tablished and my point is gained. This is certain, for 
if mind, as a cause, exists independent of such organ- 
ized brain, then it is positively a substance, and its 
annihilation is of course impossible. 

In the first place, there is certainly nothing more 



42 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 

evident, than that the organism of the human brain is 
an effect ; because as such it begins and ends its ex- 
istence. Though an effect, yet it may act as a second- 
ary cause, but this does not change the position of its 
being in reality an effect. Even the circumstance, 
that the materials of which it is composed are eternal, 
does not in the least affect this position. The ma- 
terials in their unorganized state were not the brain. 
The brain, as such, is younger than the elementary 
substances of which it is composed, and is therefore 
an effect. As an effect it requires an adequate cause. 
The same is true in relation to all animal and veget- 
able bodies in existence. They are but effects de- 
pending upon invisible correspondent causes for their 
existence. 

It is universally admitted, because it is self-evident, 
that there are but two grand objects presented in na- 
ture for human contemplation. These are mind and 
inert matter. By mind, in the full sense of the term, 
I understand that organized substance or element in all 
its varieties which possesses in itself the attributes, 
first, of life ; second, of involuntary motion ; third, 
of voluntary motion ; fourth, of sensation ; and 
fifth, of intelligence, which is the result of these 
motions. That invisible and primary substance to 
which these pertain, and in which they essentially in- 
here and combine, is mind, in its fullest sense. And 
by dead, inert matter, I understand that primary sub- 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 43 

stance in all its varieties which does not possess the 
attributes either of life, motion, or sensation, and con- 
sequently has no power of intelligence. Though I 
contend, that mind is, indeed, an elementary substance 
as really so as any other in existence, yet it is in the 
above sense I desire to be uniformly understood when 
using the terms mind and matter. 

In the light my subject now stands, I proceed to the 
argument, a priori, to prove that mind exists as an 
element or substance independent of an organized 
brain, and that vegetable life exists independent of 
even vegetable organism. In order to accomplish this 
successfully, I claim the privilege of freely ranging the 
universe, and summoning to my aid, so far as my fee- 
ble abilities permit, all the powers of philosophy in 
nature, and bringing into court her uniform testimony, 
given in her ever-varied and beautiful operations 
throughout the vegetable and animal kingdom. The 
cause that we see everywhere operating in the vegeta- 
ble department is life ; and from life, as the original 
cause, all organism as an effect proceeds. All orig- 
inal causes, without an exception, are invisible, and 
in these are concentered all the moving powers and 
energies of the universe. 

All that is rendered visible, whether through devel- 
opment or by creative consolidation, is an effect, and 
though it may operate as a secondary cause, yet it can 
never become an original self-existent cause. We 



44 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 

see, for instance, a field of wheat. On examination 
we find that each of these innumerable stalks is a hol- 
low tube supporting a head of a certain configuration, 
loaded with grains. These are severally encompassed 
with chaff and all the necessary appendages to secure 
their existence, and facilitate and further their devel- 
opment. The whole structure, in all its organic 
beauty, stands before us erect and visible. As lovers 
of nature, we gaze with admiration upon this specimen 
of her production. We see it invested with certain 
outward lineaments of form, and every adaptation of 
means to ends, and yet we are certain that no intelli- 
gent artist has exercised his skill in chiseling its form 
by any external impressions. No tool was ever lifted 
up to pollute it. It stands before us a field of grain 
in waving majesty as an effect : , and not as an original 
cause. Even the bodies of the several grains, that 
were sown in the ground^ and from whence it sprung, 
were not the cause ; but the life of those- grains was 
the original cause that by its power of self-motion, 
through electricity as its agent, made those surround- 
ing elements, which chemically corresponded with its 
nature, subservient to itself, and in accordance with 
its own laws moved forth its own invisible form in the 
developed organism of this vegetable production, and 
there left the impression of its Own invisible image. 

The same is irresistibly true in relation to all other 
plants, from the flower tribe up to the giant oak, mon- 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 45 

arch of the forest. The rose, for instance, could not 
have preceded the body of the seed, nor could the 
body of the seed have preceded the life. Geology 
testifies, that there was a period when no vegetable 
productions existed on this globe, and hence there 
were not at that time any seeds in being. It therefore 
philosophically and irresistibly follows, a priori, that 
not only the form of this rich and beautiful rose, but 
that of the bush on which it grew, were in the original 
life, for every cause in nature, putting forth its devel- 
opments, produces its corresponding effect by stamping 
its invisible image upon dead matter. The organized 
oak, in like manner, could not have preceded the 
acorn, nor could the acorn have preceded the life that 
gave them existence by imparting its organism to both, 
through the aid of electricity as its agent. 

Life, then, is self-existent organism, otherwise it 
could not, through development, produce it in any 
other substance. Invisible causes can do no more 
than to develop their own shapes and powers, and 
manifest them through the medium of inert matter. 
This is self-evident, for no cause can go beyond its 
nature in producing results. As life is self-existent 
organism, so it is the original self-moving cause of all 
visible organism. Organism is the nature of its form, 
as much so as sphere is the natural form of all parti- 
cles of inert matter, from the most minute up to pon- 
derous globes. All matter must exist in some form, 



46 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

It is the nature of all inert matter to be spherical. 
It is immaterial whether we contemplate it in masses 
like globes that roll in immensity, or in the minute 
particles that compose them, it is spherical. The 
particles of water and air are spherical; and there 
can be no question that could our microscopes render 
the particles even of electricity itself visible, we 
should find their form to be spherical. As this is the 
original self-existent form of dead matter, so organism 
is the original self-existent form of life. Hence in 
manifesting itself through the laws of development in 
the vegetable productions of the globe, it compels the 
dead spherical particles of inert matter to move, and 
through electrical agency, according to its own laws, 
so to dispose and arrange themselves as to organize 
vegetable forms that are not round, but in its own 
likeness as the prototype. And as it is impossible to 
destroy the self-existent globular form of the inert 
particles of matter, or change them into any other 
shape, so it is also impossible to destroy or change the 
.self-existent organized form of life itself. 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 47 



CHAPTER IV. 

Having noticed the vegetable kingdom, in all its 
various organisms as resulting from the organisms of 
life, which is a self-existent cause operating and mani- 
festing itself through the laws of development, I will 
now proceed to the consideration of animal life. 

And here permit me to remark, that what vegetable 
life is as a self-existent cause to the production of the 
organism of the plant, the life or mind of each creat- 
ure is to the production of its peculiarly organized 
body. You can no more account for the production 
of an organized brain and body without admitting the 
previous existence of the creature's mind as a self-ex- 
istent organized cause from which it was developed, 
than you can account for the production of a field of 
wheat, the bush and its beautiful rose, or the sturdy 
oak, without admitting the previous existence of the 
vegetable life of each from which the different organ- 
isms were developed. I ask, could the full-blown rose 
have existed previous to the stem or bush on which it 
grew % The answer is no ! Could the bush have ex- 
isted previous to the life in the seed from whence it 
sprung 1 All admit without hesitation, that this is 



48 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

impossible, and that it would be preposterous and ab- 
surd in the extreme to contend for it. Did not, then, 
the whole originate from the life as its cause and pro- 
totype ? Certainly. Did not the life, then, exist pre- 
vious to, and independent of, the bush it produced 
according to the law of development ? It did ; because 
the bush, its leaves, buds, and roses, all sprung from 
the invisible life. Then the whole is given up, and 
life is admitted to have an independent existence pre- 
vious to the visible organism through which it mani- 
fests itself. And as it existed previous to the organ- 
ism it produced out of dead, inert matter, so life is a 
substance ; and if a substance, it cannot be annihi- 
lated, and will exist after the visible organism is de- 
stroyed. As it existed before it entered the organism, 
so it must, on the principles of all sound inductive 
philosophy, exist after it leaves it. 

As life therefore possesses an independent existence, 
as an organized substance of exceeding subtility, so it 
must be the cause of organism. The life in each seed 
was the cause which, being planted in the bosom of the 
earth, was the motive power, that, through the laws of 
its own being, operated upon, and compelled the spheri- 
cal particles of inert matter to move, through electric- 
ity as its agent, and to arrange themselves in a form 
resembling its own image, and by internal development 
it produced the organic structure of the bush and the 
rose as an effect. And} surely, philosophy teaches 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 49 

that the cause must exist antecedent to the effect. 
The evidence, a priori, is thus far irresistible, and I 
might here, in perfect confidence, rest the question of 
the immortality of life, and consequently of mind on 
the same principles of reasoning. But as the subject 
is one of most vital importance to human hope and 
human happiness, and awakens the deepest anxiety 
and solicitude in every bosom, so I will proceed to 
carry out the argument, and pile evidence on evidence 
to the heavens. 

The bodies of all animals, as well as those of vege- 
tables, are formed out of particles of dead, inert matter 
through the developing power and action of mind, which 
is living, self-moving matter. Hence what the vegeta- 
ble life is to the production of plants and trees, the 
mind of the animal, as an organized being, is to the 
production of its body. There is but one grand law, 
but one common mode of operation pervades the uni- 
verse, according to which vegetable and animal organ- 
isms are produced. Though infinitely varied, yet it is 
one grand principle of procedure, and between the 
organisms of all vegetables, as well as between the 
organisms of all animals, there is a striking resem- 
blance which is called comparative anatomy. And 
again, the resemblance between the animal and vegeta- 
ble existence may be said to be so exact as to form 
one perfect chain of well graduated, links from the 
highest intelligence and most perfect organism in man, 

5 



50 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

link by link down to the lowest vegetable existence. 
Indeed, it is impossible to tell where the animal na- 
ture ends and the vegetable nature begins ! It consti- 
tutes one entire harmony and beauty — a living chain 
whose 

" Parts into parts reciprocally shot 
Abhor divorce !" 

It is philosophically impossible to produce, according 
to the law of development, the complicate organism of 
the human brain and body out of dead, inert matter, 
without the self-existent organism of the living,- self- 
moving mind as the cause. As Atheists contend that 
it is effected by electric or galvanic action, and profess 
to have succeeded in producing insect life and organ- 
ism, let them show to the world how galvanism can do 
this without the prototype. One well attested instance 
will be sufficient. 

I am well aware what is said by the author of the 
" Vestiges of Creation 5 ' as it regards the production of 
a creature, called the acarus, by Mr. Crosse and 
others. Though the author freely uses the term 
" Deity" in his work, yet whether he employs it in the 
sense it is universally understood by Christians, as a 
Being of infinite intelligence as revealed and taught in 
the Scriptures, or in the Atheistic sense, as a primal 
but unintelligent cause^ is involved in the same doubt 
as is the name of its author, I will not sav that he is 



IMMORTALIT-Y TRIUMPHANT. 51 

an Atheist, yet the Atheists in the United States so 
regard him — highly approve of his book, and not only 
consider it a valuable acquisition to their publications 
for the advancement of their cause, but have exerted 
not a little effort to give it a general circulation. It 
has sold rapidly, and produced considerable excitement 
in the Christian community, but as is usually the case 
with productions of this class, the clergy affect to treat 
it with silent contempt, as unworthy of serious consid- 
eration. This should not be so, as such a course of 
procedure cannot possibly, in this age of advancement 
in art and science, prove beneficial to Christianity. 
On the contrary, it is a serious injury to the advance- 
ment and prosperity of its light and power in thou- 
sands and millions of minds. When light is breaking 
and shedding its rays on every department in nature's 
book, let not the clergy hesitate to open this volume, 
and shake hands with science, and introduce the vol- 
ume of nature and revelation to each other in every 
pulpit throughout the length and breadth of the land, 
and permit them not only to cultivate a familiar ac- 
quaintance with each other under their ministry, but 
to be united in evelasting wedlock at the sacred altar. 
As a copy of the " Vestiges of Creation 5 ' cannot be 
obtained in any of the New York bookstores, I have 
only had an opportunity of a few hours to glance over 
the pages of one in the possession of a friend of mine, 
about a year ago. All Atheists, so far as my know= 



52 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

ledge extends, admit a primal cause, or causes — a 
moving force or forces which they term god or deity — 
but deny that such cause or causes, as the ever-acting 
forces of nature, possess any intelligence. This was 
the opinion of Abner Kneeland, with whom I had 
many conversations, and who would not deny the exist- 
ence of one or more gods as causes or as forces, and 
this may be the opinion also of the author of the " Ves- 
tiges of Creation," and the sense in which he uses the 
term Deity. From a cursory perusal of his work, I re- 
ceived the impression that his object was, so far at 
least as concerns the production of life or mind, to 
show that there was a gradually ascending develop- 
ment from the lowest animal life up to man, or, in 
other words, that man had been perhaps an oyster, or 
even a vegetable, and passed through every possible 
link in the chain of existence below him up to man ! — 
and that all life or mind is but a result of organization, 
and is perfect in its powers in the same ratio as the 
organism is perfect. The idea that man has ever 
been a monkey, a bird, or any other creature besides 
man, I deem wholly visionary, unphilosophical, and im- 
possible. For a more full expression of my views on 
this point, see my " Philosophy of Electrical Psycho- 
logy," Lecture VII., published by Fowlers and Wells, 
New York. 

The Atheist contends, that vegetable and animal 
substances are produced by the positive and negative 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 53. 

forces of electricity in the galvanic form, without any 
previous germ of life, and that experiments have proved 
successful in producing creatures called the acara. 
This, I contend, is impossible in the very nature of 
things, because all experiments prove, that galvanism, 
operating according to the positive and negative forces, 
can produce no image whatever, except from the proto- 
type. Let gold, for instance, be dissolved in aqua re- 
gia. After the solution is prepared, we may immerse 
in it a bank-plate, a medal, a cup, a spoon, and as 
many more articles as we please, all containing differ- 
ent engravings, letters, and devices. Then through 
the wires of a galvanic battery, communicate the gal- 
vanic current to this solution. The galvanism will 
seize the particles of gold and deposit them upon all 
those articles as solid as though they had been melted 
there. And by that one solitary galvanic process, the 
entire identity of all the engravings, letters, and de- 
vices will be perfectly retained, even if the gold be 
galvanized upon each as thick as a tin sheet. And 
moreover, a second bank-plate can be made from the 
first, and it will be a perfect image, or fac simile of 
that first as its prototype. But suppose, that no arti- 
cles, or images be immersed in this solution, and let 
the galvanism operate upon the gold as before ; and 
what would it effect in producing engravings, letters, 
or devices ? Nothing ! When would it produce anoth- 
er bank-plate without the prototype 1 Never ! 



54 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 

I also grant, that through electricity or galvanism, a 
plant may be in a few moments produced from the 
seed — but not without the living seed. I frankly ad- 
mit, that those acara may have appeared, as has been 
stated by Mr. Crosse, and seized upon by skeptics as 
a kind of creative triumph of their views independent 
of a Creator. But as the galvanic process was con- 
tinued for several months, some ovaria by living creat- 
ures might have been deposited during that period, if 
not before, and been developed into organic existence 
by natural process, independent of the galvanic battery, 
and would have been produced, even if the battery had 
not been employed, which experiment it would be well 
for Mr. Crosse to try. As creatures have locomotion, 
they might have gone to that spot invisible to the naked 
eye, and deposited some germs of life while the experi- 
mentor was there to renew daily the power of his gal- 
vanic solution. And in case the battery had any thing 
to do with it, they might, by this artificial action, have 
attained to an unusual size, and what was microscopic 
in the parent might have become abundantly visible in 
the progeny. It is well understood, that by favoring 
development, any creature can be eminently increased 
in size. It should also be remembered, that the ovaria 
of some insects are very difficult to destroy, even by 
very great heat. To test the matter fairly, I would 
suggest to Mr. Crosse, that a soil, the most favorable 
to vegetable production, be selected — and after having 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 55 

subjected it to a process, by which all vegetable life 
shall be removed from latent seeds, he shall then ap- 
ply to it any galvanic action he may choose, and if he 
shall succeed in producing a plant the matter will be 
settled — because the seeds of plants possess no locomo- 
tion to repair to his chemico-life laboratory. Viewing 
the subject in this light, a mind of ordinary sagacity 
will readily perceive, why skeptics have usually been 
so eager to seize upon such circumstances, and freely 
circulate reports of the production of animal life, by 
some process or chemical action, but have never, at 
least to my knowledge, reported a single instance where 
vegetable life was thus produced and developed in a 
plant of the humblest structure. 

As every effect requires an adequate cause for its ex- 
istence, and as no effect can philosophically go beyond, 
or transcend its cause, how, I ask, can dead matter be 
so arranged or organized as to produce the life of an 
acarus or any other creature, or even a plant? As 
matter is dead, this is admitting an effect without the 
least shadow of a cause. Fashion or shape dead matter 
as we please, into mechanism, or even construct an or- 
ganic automaton, yet it has no life. If it be said in 
reply, that inorganic matter is not dead, then it must 
naturally possess, inherent in itself, both animal and 
vegetable life, and that, too, of every grade, from the 
highest intelligence, down to that which exists in the 
lowest plant. This being admitted, it next follows, 



56 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

from the premises assumed, that this life must of ne- 
cessity be diffused throughout all inorganic matter, 
otherwise that matter, where it is not diffused, would be 
dead, which the skeptic denies. Life then, being, on 
this principle, universally diffused throughout all mat- 
ter in immensity, it next follows, that it must exist 
there independent of physical organism. This is an 
admission on the part of the skeptic from w T hich he can- 
not possibly escape. And if it exists there, then it is 
as eternal and immortal as the unorganized matter in 
which it exists — and this he contends is imperishable 
and eternal. This being so, the skeptic by inductive 
philosophy, has arrived at the result, that there is, 
and must be an infinite, immortal, and eternal Intelli- 
gence ! Why, then, does he deny the existence of an 
intelligent Creator and Ruler of the universe ? 

Again, if inorganic matter possesses life, inherent in 
itself, how then can life be the result of organism, as 
the skeptic contends 1 If life is the result — the mere 
effect of organism — then it cannot exist in unorganized 
matter. And if this be so, then inorganic matter is 
dead! How then can he produce life out of dead mat- 
ter by electric or galvanic action, or by any other pro- 
cess ? This is admitting an effect, not only transcend- 
ing its cause, but as having no cause at all ! He may 
produce an automaton creature of any kind by the use 
of tools, but the mechanism, though in a perfect organic 
form, will possess no life. But he cannot by electro- 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 57 

galvanic action produce out of dead matter an automa- 
ton creature, either with, or without life. 

The whole substance of the skeptic's reasoning 
amounts to this : all matter, in its unorganized state, 
possesses life in itself, otherwise we could not philo- 
sophically produce one single acarus, and this life must 
be as immortal as the matter in which it exists ! Yet 
it is evident, that life is, after all, but the result of or- 
ganism, and that even the mind of man, which is the 
highest life, is only the effect of an organized brain ! 
So when organism is destroyed, life must cease to exist ! 
It being only an effect, it is annihilated at death, and 
cannot possibly exist immortal in a future state. Of 
this dilemma, my skeptic friends may take either horn 
that suits their fancy ; assuring them of my kindest 
feelings toward them. 

The human brain and body both point to mind as the 
cause of their developed existence. This mind is a 
germ from the infinite Spirit as Creator. The organ- 
ism of the brain and body can no more be produced, 
a priori, without the previous existence of the mind, 
than they could have been produced previous to the 
existence of dead matter as the material out of which 
they were organized. As the body refers to a fountain 
of matter from whence it came, so mind refers' to a 
fountain of spirit from whence it emanated. What the 
vegetable life of the seed is to the production of the 
plant or tree, the mind of man is to the production of 



58 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

the organized brain and body. And if it is absolutely 
absurd to contend, that the oak could have existed 
without the previous existence of the life that organized 
and produced it, then the supreme absurdity is clearly 
manifest of contending for the existence of the human 
brain and body without the previous existence of the 
living mind as the developing cause. How unphilo- 
sophical, and even preposterous, then, to contend, that 
mind is the result of a brain organized out of dead 
matter ! 

It is now philosophically and irresistibly proved, if 
philosophy can prove any thing, that mind is the cause 
and the brain is the effect it produced according to the 
law of development. And as the cause must exist an- 
tecedent to, and independent of, the effect, so mind has 
an existence independent of the organized body. This 
being so, it is immortal, and, as it is a substance, it 
cannot be annihilated at the death of the body. And 
its nature being organism and self-motion, so it will 
continue to think, to reason, and improve without 
end ! Mental and moral progression is the nature of 
its existence as an impression from the hand of God. 
Clothed in its electrical and immortal body, which it 
will naturally attract to itself, it will continue through 
ceaseless ages to approximate the spirit-fountain of its 
being ! Yes, the whole chain of life rise and brighten 
forever ! 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 59 



CHAPTEE V. 

The Atheist may, perhaps, contend, that as the 
mind gradually loses its powers of thought and reason 
as it recedes from life and imperceptibly approaches 
the sleep of death, so it must there sink into utter un- 
consciousness and annihilation. I reply, that this by 
no means follows, for we witness the same thing when 
we see it sink gradually into natural sleep ; and is 
sleep the annihilation of mind? What, I ask, is 
death ? It is life separated from physical organism ; 
it is the dissolution of the copartnership. The organ- 
ism is then subjected to chemical action, and the parts 
of which it is composed are destroyed by being reduced 
to their original elements, as they were before being 
organized. 

This is proof, that life or mind is organism, not only 
because the organism of the body was produced by its 
energy, but by its energy was retained in defiance of 
chemical action, so long as the copartnership lasted. 
And to make the proof doubly sure, the organism could 
not be destroyed by decomposition while the life re- 
mained connected with it— nor could it be naturally 



60 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

preserved in an organized condition after the life had 
departed. This is proof the most irresistible that all 
organism exists original in mind, as well as all power 
to organize dead matter. That it requires organism 
original in mind to produce organism in dead matter, 
can be proved by various positions. I will furnish one 
more. Man begets man, lion begets lion, horse begets 
horse, bird begets bird, and tree produces tree. 
Throughout the whole animal and vegetable chain, like 
begets like in organism, nature, and quality. Life 
and mind are therefore of philosophical necessity, 
immortal in their various organisms, because they 
exist antecedent to, and consequently independent of, 
physical organism. The fact, that man cannot beget 
a lion, a horse, or a bird, proves that the organism of 
his mind or life, being different from theirs, cannot 
possibly produce a different impression from itself, and 
forever maintains the Mosaic philosophy, that the seed 
of every thing is in itself, and the creatures bring forth 
after their kind. There is no such thing as annihila- 
tion in the universe, and even death itself is but a rela- 
tive, or convertible term. 

In the light our subject now stands, the proof is 
clear, and the conclusion irresistible, that there is an 
intelligent Creator — an infinite, self-existent Mind, 
who moves worlds and systems of worlds, and exerts 
throughout the universe an energy of action far beyond 
the power of all finite intelligences to produce or 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 61 

conceive. View the subject in what light we may, the 
same proof presents itself to the mind, conclusive and 
irresistible, that there is a parent-power, a fountain of 
self-existent mind, from which all life and mind mani- 
fest in the whole vegetable and animal chain have ema- 
nated in streaming oceans. This is just as certain as 
that there is a fountain of self-existent inert matter 
from which all worlds were produced, and from which 
the bodies of all vegetables and animals have ema- 
nated, and out of which their various organisms were 
developed. This is irresistibly true, for I have proved 
mind to be a substance. If there be no infinite Mind 
in which exist all the varieties of organism in infinite, 
original perfection, how then shall we account for finite 
organism developed out of dead matter, which is of 
itself incapable of motion ? It cannot be done but by 
a finite self-moving mind, which must have emanated 
from the infinite Fountain of intelligence and life, for 
all finite refer to, and depend upon the infinite as the 
source. As every principle of philosophy sustains the 
position that it requires an adequate cause for every 
eifect, so it here reiterates the declaration in a voice 
not to be misunderstood, that it cannot be done except 
through the energy of a finite mind as the cause which 
alone develops the finite organism as an effect. And 
as the finite organism necessarily requires an infinite 
fountain of self-existent, inert, and dead matter from 
whence it came, so the finite mind requires an infinite 

6 



62 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

fountain of self-existent Life, Motion, and Intelligence 
from whence it emanated. 

Should it now be said that this mode of reasoning 
involves the same difficulties presented in the argument 
of Dr. Paley, and requires the design, skill, and art 
of a previous intelligent cause to have produced the 
organism of the infinite Mind itself — I reply, that this 
by no means follows — because, in my argument I deny 
that there w T as any design, skill, art, or even thought, 
exercised in producing the most intricate and perfect 
organism — not even that of the human brain, the eye, 
the ear, or that of the whole structure. I contend 
that it is the natural development of the living, self- 
moving mind which is self-existent organism as an im- 
pression of the infinite fountain, God, from whence it 
emanated. If it now be said, that the infinite Mind 
must, on this principle of reasoning, have emanated 
from some other infinite fountain of organized mind, 
even as man did from Him, I reply, that this is non- 
sense, because there can be, as I have shown, but one 
Infinity of absolute perfection in existence, and hence 
all parts proceeding from Him must necessarily be 
finite. It might, with just as much reason, be said, 
that because the finite body of man emanated from the 
infinite fountain of inert matter, so this infinite foun- 
tain must have emanated from some other infinite 
fountain of matter that previously existed, which is 
nonsense. 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 63 

Upon a subject of this nature, where an eternal, or 
necessary existence is involved, I am aware of the diffi- 
culty of making any adequate comparison. But as the 
idea is all I desire to make plain to the humblest capa- 
city, I will attempt it in the following manner. The 
stamp upon the wax leaves its perfect image, however 
many marks and characters it may contain. As the 
stamp, however, is not self-existent, and does not pos- 
sess the attribute of self-motion, it requires the human 
hand, or some extraneous power, to press it upon the 
wax. But suppose, that this stamp with all its marks, 
ornaments, and characters were self- existent and in visi- 
ble — and suppose that it were its nature to move and 
develop itself in wax — it would in this case mani- 
fest its own invisible form or image in all its complex 
characters in the wax, and render this proof of its in- 
visible existence certain. And it would be done, too, 
without any design, skill, or even thought, in the 
stamp. 

Each vegetable life is but a separate, self-moving 
stamp ; and as a finite cause, acting through the laws 
of its own being on inert matter, attracts to itself, 
through the agency of electricity, those elementary 
particles only that are in chemical harmony with its 
nature, and through these it develops the plant or 
tree in its own image. The whole vegetable kingdom 
in all its infinite variety, with all its flowers, blossoms, 
fruits, and beauty — each spire of grass — each herb and 



64 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 



plant and tree — the whole is in the image of its own 
vegetable life. And so is each animal life a separate, 
self-moving stamp ; and as a finite cause, acting through 
the laws of its own being on inert matter, attracts to 
itself, through the agency of electricity, those element- 
ary particles only that are in chemical harmony with 
its nature, and through these it develops the body of 
the insect or animal in its own image. The whole ani- 
mal kingdom, therefore, in all its infinite variety, with 
all its organisms, lineaments of form and beauty — each 
creature — the whole is in the image of its own animal 
life or mind. 

It may now, perhaps, be asked by the Atheist — if 
all the varieties of vegetable and animal life are self- 
existent organisms, and original, self-moving causes, 
which have produced their respective bodies out of 
dead, inert matter, by development through the laws 
of their own being — then what is God ? — and what is 
the use of His existence, seeing that every vegetable 
and animal develops itself? In reply to these two 
questions, I would first say, that all the immense varie- 
ties of vegetable and animal life, with all its compli- 
cate organisms, only manifest the varieties that exist 
in, and constitute the Infinite Mind, in the same 
sense, that all the varieties of elementary substances, 
composing the bodies of animals, plants, trees, and 
globes, only manifest the varieties that exist in, and 
constitute the infinity of inert matter. Hence God 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 65 

is the self-existent fountain of infinite Mind, the na- 
ture of whose form is organism, and its consequent 
self-motion ; and all- the varieties of vegetable and 
animal life are but the varied streams He pours forth 
from His existence as the means by which to arouse 
inert matter into vegetable and animal beauty, through 
the laws of the universe, which are but the result of 
the harmony of His own being. 

" He has poured spirit from spirit's awful 
Fountain, and kindled into existence 
A world of rationals." 

The Christian world have generally considered spirit 
to be nothing more than an immateriality of reasoning 
faculties, and were then involved in perplexity how 
spirit could come in contact with, and control dead, 
inert matter. And they have made animal and veget- 
able life to be something entirely distinct from mind, 
because it does not manifest reason, and considered it 
to be that force by which all the phenomena in animal 
and vegetable bodies were produced. But admit all 
life to be properties or elements of mind corresponding 
with the elements in dead matter, and all is plain. 
Electricity is, unquestionably, the highest and most 
subtile form of inert matter, and is the next link to 
vegetable life, which is the lowest link in the element 
of mind, and is the lowest motive force. We then 
mount up through the various links of mind or life, all 



66 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 

capable of self-motion, till we reach the last or high- 
est link, the result of whose motion is thought, rea- 
son, and understanding. Such is God, the fountain 
of all intelligence, life, motion, and power. Elec- 
tricity is hut the ' body He naturally assumes, and 
through which He handles dead matter. He arms 
electricity with power, by it moves globes and stirs 
the universe. Even the positive and negative forces 
of electricity are drawn from the voluntary and invol- 
untary powers of the infinite fountain of Mind, with 
which it is connected as the midway link in the vast 
chain of elementary being, where inert Matter and 
self-moving Mind join hands, embrace each other, and 
move on in infinite harmony, in infinite space, and 
throughout unending duration, exulting in the omnipo- 
tence of their own immortality. Such, I repeat it, is 
God, the fountain of all intelligence, of all life, of all 
motion, and of all power. 

As to the question, ivhat is the use of His existence, 
seeing that every vegetable and animal life develops 
its own body ? — I reply, that if there were no foun- 
tain, it could send forth no streams. If there never 
had been a God, vegetable and animal life could never 
have emanated from His being, and hence no vegetable 
nor animal bodies could ever have been developed, or 
existed on this globe, or any other in the empire of 
immensity. All finites are evolved from infinity. 
Should any believer in God contend, that the emana- 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 67 

tion of animal and vegetable life from His own* immor- 
tal substance is impossible, or not true, I reply, that 
if life, in its humblest form, either animal or veget- 
able, were produced by the Creator in some other 
manner than as an emanation from himself, as the 
parent fountain of all life and being, then He must 
have created life, which is something , out of nothing! 
the absurdity of which I have clearly shown. Or else 
it must be admitted, that there exists another fountain 
of life distinct from God. If this be so, how then 
can He be the fountain of all life ? Remember there 
can be but one Infinity of absolute perfection in ex- 
istence. The Atheist sometimes remarks, that the 
life of his being may after death pass into other bodies, 
or even produce vegetables. But does he not per- 
ceive, that this is admitting the doctrine of transmi- 
gration to be true ? This overthrows his argument, 
as it is an admission of the truth of immortality — for 
life or mind could not pass from its old body into 
its new, unless it existed independent of both ! If 
so, what becomes of his system of philosophy, that 
mind is the effect of an organized brain, and (of course, 
to be consistent) that vegetable life is the effect of 
the organized plant ? The only point to be settled be- 
tween us, in this case, would be the philosophy of 
identity. However much the substance of his dead, 
decaying body might fertilize the soil and accelerate 
vegetation, yet, I think, it would puzzle him exceed- 



68 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 

m 

ingly to prove, that the life was not in the seed, but 
that the life which once animated his body entered 
into the seed, or formed a new seed, and became the 
germ that produced the plant ! 

Should the Atheist here exclaim— It is absurd to 
contend, that all these varieties of life-elements exist 
in, and constitute the infinite Mind ! I reply, that it 
is no more absurd, than for him to contend, that all 
the varieties of elementary substances exist in, and 
constitute the infinity of dead matter ! If he asks- — 
how came the life of a rose, or the mind of a man, or 
of a horse, or of a fish, to exist as elements in the life- 
matter department ! I ask him in my turn, how came 
gold, silver, copper, and tin to exist as elements in the 
dead-matter department? If he answers, that the 
whole exists of philosophical necessity, and that inert 
matter, in all its various elements, is eternal ! So, I 
answer, that mind exists of philosophical necessity, 
and in all its various elements is eternal ! If he still 
further inquires — how came life, or mind, to exist in 
an organized form? I still further inquire, how came 
the particles of inert matter to exist, in a spherical 
form ? If he asks — why cannot the organism of mind, 
or life, be destroyed, or even changed ? I ask him, 
why cannot the spherical form of inert particles of 
matter be destroyed, or even changed ? 

Does not the Atheist perceive, that the same diffi- 
culties exist in his system of matter that he perceives 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 69 

existing in my system of mind ? If these difficulties 
induce him to reject the one, why not, for the same 
reason, reject the other also? and then contend, that 
there is nothing in existence, as did the skeptical phil- 
osophers of old, who even doubted their own exist- 
ence ! If he says, that he clearly perceives the ex- 
istence of matter and its operations, I answer, no 
more so, than we clearly perceive the existence of 
mind and its operations. Why should the Atheist 
freely admit, that there must eternally have been a 
perfection of inert matter in boundless space, whose 
elementary particles, as a law of necessity, forever 
existed in a spherical form — and then deny, that there 
eternally could have been the perfection of living mind 
in infinite space, whose form, as a law of necessity, is 
organism ? There is no lofty thought in that philoso- 
phy which discards the invisible and sublime, and em- 
braces in its grasp those gross substances only, whose 
existence can be recognized by the senses of seeing, 
hearing, feeling, taste, and smell. 



70 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Atheist has asked, how mind or life could 
happen to exist in an organized state? I have an- 
swered him, that it is a self-existent cause, whose na- 
ture is motion. I have proved that it exists antece- 
dent to, and independent of, the brain and body, and 
was the cause of their organization. I now, in my 
turn, ask him — If mind is the effect of organism and 
not the cause, how, then, will he account for the or- 
ganized brain of a man or a horse 1 Or how will he 
account for the rose and its bush, without admitting 
the previous existence of the life of the seed 1 Let 
him rationally explain these three distinct formations, 
by any philosophy at his command, and his work is 
done. It will not answer for him to say, that they 
exist as a matter of necessity, and always were, for this 
is not so. They are effects, and as such, begin and end 
their existence, and point us back to their cause. In- 
deed, he cannot give any rational account, how the 
particles of inert matter can so dispose and arrange 
themselves, according to any laws of nature, as to 
produce organism> because organism is a certain ar= 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 71 

rangement or condition into which inert matter is 
forced. And as it is a forced state, so it requires the 
existence of a foreign self-moving power to bring it 
there, because organism is not the natural form of in- 
ert matter. While organized, it is in a forced state ; 
because when life departs, the organism is through 
chemical action decomposed, and the dead matter is 
returned to its natural condition. It rejoins its kin- 
dred elements, from which it had been separated by 
death while in an organized state, for death is but a 
convertible term. 

The Atheist says, that mind is the effect of an or- 
ganized brain, and has no existence, except in connec- 
tion with a brain ! I again press the question — how, 
then, will he account for the organized brain of a man, 
or a horse, or the developed rose and its bush 1 He 
may, perhaps, argue that all this was accomplished by 
the laws of nature ! But what is a law of nature ] 
There is so much said about the laws of nature — the 
laws of matter— the laws of the universe — their power, 
and the wonderful effects they produce, as to darken 
counsel by words without knowledge, and mislead many 
a well-meaning mind. But those who talk about a 
powerful law, and the powers of the laws of nature, 
and the wonderful effects they produce, clearly show 
by such expressions, that they are entirely ignorant of 
the subject of their discourse. For the benefit of 
those whose opportunities have not permitted them to 



72 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

investigate this particular point, I will Submit a few 
remarks. 

I observed a moment ago, that the Atheist might 
argue in reply, that the brain of a man, or a horse, or 
the developed bush and its rose, was accomplished by 
the laws of nature. But what are we to understand 
by the laws of nature, or by any law 1 I reply, that 
they are not things, but principles, according to which 
things operate. Surely laws considered in the abstract 
as existing independent of things or the arrangement 
of things as a starting point, are powerless. Laws 
are not causes, but the manner in which causes ope- 
rate to produce their effects. Indeed, laws can have no 
existence independent of, or previous to, things, or the 
arrangement of things, for law, I repeat, is not a 
thing, but the principle or rule of the thing to which 
it is applied. To talk of the powers of the laws of 
nature is the most consummate nonsense, for law has 
no power. Surely the laws of mechanism could have 
had no existence till mechanism was produced. 

For example : it was perceived, that a definite num- 
ber of wheels, made in a certain form, and of relative 
proportions to each other, with an elastic spring and 
other fixtures, and put together in a certain manner, 
and the spring wound up, would produce a certain mo- 
tion. We call it a watch. It moves according to the 
laws, rules, or principles of its mechanism, and it 
cannot move in any other manner. And if this piece 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 73 

of mechanism had been made in any age of the world 
— whether in that of Noah, Moses, Solomon, or Cesar 
— it would have produced the same result, according 
to the laws or principles of its mechanism. I now 
ask, did the laws of mechanism produce the watch? 
If so, why did not Noah, Moses, Solomon, and Cesar 
wear watches ? If law, in the abstract, is a powerful 
producing cause, why were not watches produced in 
all ages 1 I again ask, did the law produce the watch? 
Certainly not ; for law is but the principle or order of 
its mechanism. It is the rule according to which it 
operates, and had no existence previous to the watch. 
It is not a thing. Does the law even move it ? No, 
but it moves according to its law, for law has no 
power, nor is it in any sense whatever a producing 
cause. I again say, that law, abstractly considered, 
is nothing. 

On this principle of reasoning we clearly perceive, 
that the law of organism could have had no existence 
previous to organism, as a cause or power to produce 
it. To contend for this is absurd in the extreme. It 
is but saying, that a law, which has no power to act 
after it exists, acted most powerfully before it existed ! 
The laws of nature, then, could not have produced 
the brain and body of a man, a horse, nor the bush 
and its rose. On the same principle the laws of life, 
or the laws of mind, could not have existed previous 
to life or mind, nor produced it, any more than the law 

7 



74 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

of the watch could have existed previous to its mechan- 
ism/ or produced it. 

The same is true in relation even to human laws. 
The laws of societies or of nations could have had no 
existence previous to the existence of the human race. 
They are merely principles, or rules according to which 
they proceed in governing themselves as associate bo- 
dies. These laws in the abstract are powerless — a 
dead letter, and cannot execute themselves. They re- 
quire the physical force of the body politic to execute 
them. 

The Atheist may now say, that the law of inert 
matter is eternal. But does this, I ask, make it a 
cause , or an executing power, capable of producing 
the least effect ? No ! Common sense and every 
principle of philosophy set such a supposition at defi- 
ance. I grant that the law of inert matter is eter- 
nal ; but why is it so ? I answer, because inert mat- 
ter is itself eternal. Its prime law is inertia, because 
it does not possess the power of self-motion. And as 
inert matter is only moved by impulse, or by being op- 
erated upon, so it requires a foreign self-moving cause 
to communicate to it motion. 

Perhaps the Atheist may now deny that dead matter 
is inert, and contend that every atom is in self-motion ; 
that the globe not only revolves on its axis once in 
twenty-four hours, but moves through space, around 
the sun as a common center, at the rate of sixty-eight 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 75 

thousand miles per hour, and that a ceaseless chemical 
action of its particles in the composition and decom- 
position of bodies is going on ; that the ocean heaves 
its tides, rolls its billows, and that by evaporation its 
moisture is incessantly rising into the air, is carried on 
serial wings over the globe, is condensed and rained 
down on the mountains and plains, and again returns 
to the parent ocean ; that the air moves in gentle 
breezes, strong gales, sweeping hurricanes, and roaring 
tornadoes ; that electricity, a universal and ever-pres- 
ent fluid, is in ceaseless motion, from its most gentle 
and silent stirrings in the sweet breathings of the sleep- 
ing infant on its mother's bosom, up to its most power- 
ful manifestations in flashing lightnings and bursting 
thunders ; and then ask is matter inert ? I will notice 
these several points in detail. 

The movement of the globe on its axis and around 
the sun as a center, is readily admitted. And all 
these never-ceasing operations, motions, and convul- 
sions throughout its terrestrial, aqueous, aerial, and 
electrical departments, are also freely conceded. But 
permit me to say, that this is no proof whatever that 
dead matter possesses this power of motion inherent in 
itself. All these motions and operations we witness 
might, after all, be but secondary, originating in some 
other cause. It requires no great sagacity to perceive, 
that if there were but one element in existence pos- 
sessing the attribute of self-motion, it would, as the 



76 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

original source of power, still produce the same pheno- 
mena we now witness throughout every elementary de- 
partment of nature. All power is vested in that 
substance which possesses the attribute of self-motion, 
because there can be no manifestation of power, except 
through motion. The query then arises, what is the cause 
of all these moving operations in unorganized matter 1 
The Atheist asserts, that' it is a power of motion in- 
herent in this matter ! This I deny, and in my turn 
assert, that the whole is but secondary motion commu- 
nicated to inert matter by some self-moving cause. 
We are now even — our two assertions balance each 
other. Now, then, for the evidence each is able to 
produce in defense of the truth of his assertion, and 
against that of his opponent. Truth alone must turn 
the scale. 

Let a two- inch glass ball, for instance, be laid at 
rest in a room, on a perfectly level floor of the smooth- 
est glass surface, and how long would it lie there if 
nothing came in contact with it ? The answer is, for- 
ever ! It is the universal admission, without a single 
dissenting voice, that it would never stir, unless motion 
were communicated to it by some extraneous impelling 
force. Though carried along with the globe in its mo- 
tion, it is nevertheless relatively motionless. It is in 
itself considered inert, being utterly incapable of self- 
motion. Should it be struck by a rolling glass ball, it 
would be moved by impulse, and again sink to rest the 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 77 

instant that the force it received were exhausted. And 
the impelling ball would lose just as much of its own 
force as it communicated to the ball at rest. 

Now, it will be readily perceived, that in this case 
there is no beginning of motion. It is all secondary 
motion, and we immediately look around for the cause 
that gave motion to the impelling ball. If we see no 
visible, well-known cause of motion, we inquire, with 
surprise, what started it ? But if we saw it done by 
the hand of a child, or struck by the paw of a cat, in 
either case there would be no surprise — no inquiry as 
to the cause. Yet in all that was visible, even in this 
case, there was no beginning of motion. The real 
motive cause here, as it is in all other cases, without 
exception, was invisible. We merely, know, that the 
child's hand was connected with its body, its body 
with a brain, its brain with electricity, and that elec- 
tricity was connected with its mind. The child's hand 
and the impelling glass ball were but the two visible 
mediums through which motion was communicated to 
the glass ball at rest. All the other links in this chain 
of recurrent causes were invisible, and the child's mind 
was the sole moving cause. That alone gave motion 
to every intervening element between itself and the 
glass ball. These were all secondary motions, while 
that in the child's mind was primal. I care not 
through how many concatenations of causes and effects 
motion may be traced, it is, after all, but secondary. 



78 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

being communicated through consecutive mediums, and 
motion must be referred back to mind as the grand 
starting cause — the only prime motive power. 

The Atheist may now say, that if this glass ball 
were placed above our atmosphere, at a certain dis- 
tance from the globe, it would revolve around it. Let 
this be granted ; but what, I ask, moves it now ? As 
we have ascertained it to be incapable of self-motion, 
we are bound to seek a cause. The conclusion is irre- 
sistible, that it is still moved by some impulse, as cer- 
tainly so as it was on the glass floor. A mere change 
of place has not changed its nature, nor imparted to 
it any new attributes. I press the question — What 
moves it now ? The only rational and philosophical 
answer that can be given is, that it is now moved by 
the same agent that moves the globe, which is electric- 
ity. But does electricity possess self-motion? It 
does not, because when in equilibrio it is at rest, and 
requires a foreign force to disturb its equilibrium, and 
cause it to move. 

Let us here particularize. What moved the glass 
ball that was laid at rest ? It was the moving ball. 
What moved that? The child's hand. What moved 
its hand? The muscles. What moved the muscles? 
The nerves. What moved the nerves ? Electricity, 
called the nervous fluid. What moved electricity? 
The living, organized mind, which possesses in itself 
the attribute of primal motion, both voluntary and 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT* 79 

involuntary, both positive and negative, and which 
arms electricity with power, and invests it with all its 
expansive force. 

When the mind leaves the body, electricity is still 
left in its entire organism, but it cannot again move 
the hand, nor throb the heart, for it is incapable of 
self-motion. But if set in motion by a current from 
a galvanic battery, it will contract the muscles and 
move the hands, or mantle the cheeks with smiles, or 
impress a frown upon the brow. The battery, by 
pouring in an artificial current, stirs the electricity in 
the nerves, and imperfectly performs what the living 
and self-moving mind once perfectly executed. This 
is proof, again, that electricity is incapable of self- 
motion. 

We see, then, in man a microcosm of the boundless 
universe — an abridgment of nature, involving mind in 
all its organized and graduated elements, from the 
highest reasoning powers down to vegetable life, and 
involving inert matter in all its corresponding and 
equal number of elements, exhibiting in the wonderful 
and complicate organism of his body the physical or- 
ganisms of all creatures and vegetables, and involving 
all the harmonious operations of the two great and 
beautiful departments of motive mind and inert mat- 
ter ! All the varieties of the whole infinite universe 
on a finite scale are concentered in him, and exhibited 
in one field-view through the lucid ken of nature's tel- 



80 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 

escope — the human eye! And as electricity in the 
human body is but the agent of the living mind, and 
does not possess independent motion there, why should 
it any where else in nature 1 I deny that it does, and 
demand the proof. 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 81 



CHAPTEE VII 

The Atheist may perhaps now contend, that elec- 
tricity still moves in the dead body and stirs its parti- 
cles, otherwise decomposition could not take place by 
natural chemical action. This objection has no weight, 
for I freely admit that electricity is the universal agent 
under the infinite Mind, by which are carried on all the 
operations of nature, and for this I have uniformly con- 
tended. But still its motions are secondary under 
mind, and not primary, as I have proved by argument, 
and can prove by actual experiment upon a living hu- 
man being, so that the result may be positively seen 
by the naked eye. We know that if water is thrown 
out of its level it moves, but the motion is continued 
no longer, than till it has again attained its equilibrium. 
It is the same with air or electricity. Inert matter by 
being organized, is thrown out of balance with its kin- 
dred elements. Decomposition is but the particles of 
the organized body returning to an equilibrium with 
their kindred unorganized substances in nature, under 
a certain degree of heat and moisture. Like returns 
to like, and among these, electricity is one laboring to 
diffuse and equalize itself with electricity in the atmos- 



82 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

phere. When this equilibrium is attained motion 
ceases. But if electricity by its own self-moving ener- 
gies alone accomplished this, why then will it not de- 
compose a frozen body at the north pole, where electricity 
is far more abundant than in warmer regions 1 And 
why will it not decompose a body where the heat is so 
great as to dry and preserve it like a mummy ? 

When I say, that electricity is the agent of the mind, 
I simply mean, that it is a universal fluid, and pervades 
every part of the body, and under the never-ceasing 
energy of mind, moves the whole according to the laws 
of its complicate organism. Mind in its highest ele- 
ment, in which are involved all the powers of conscious 
thought, reason, and understanding, is not diffused 
throughout the whole body. It is enthroned in the 
brain, and as it cannot leave that throne to directly 
execute the functions of the body, so it employs elec- 
tricity, its ever-present agent, to execute its commands. 

As the glass ball is the premiss laid down as a start- 
ing point, permit me to ask, whether the conclusion 
drawn from it is not equally true as it regards all dead 
matter? Immaterial, whether it be minerals, rocks, 
earth, water, or electricity — is it not all as incapable 
of self-motion as this ball ? And does not reason re- 
quire us to mount up through all the grades of dead 
matter and its secondary motions till we reach mind as 
the original cause of all motion ? Does it not require 
the same cause in the absolute perfection of the infinite 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 83 

universe to produce motion there, that we see in man, 
the finite microcosm, here 1 Certainly. As each organ, 
so far as our observation extends, performs but one 
function, so reason and analogy assert, that there is but 
one substance in nature that exercises the function of 
self-motion. The eye sees, the ear hears, the nose 
smells, the mouth tastes, the lungs breathe, the heart 
throbs, the stomach digests food, the hands handle, and 
the feet walk. The eye never hears, and the ear never 
sees. So not only analogy and reason assert, but in- 
ductive philosophy teaches, that there is but one sub- 
stance in the universe that possesses the attribute of 
self-motion. This is the self-existent Mind, the foun- 
tain of all life, energy, and being. Its grand function 
is motion, and motion is the manifestation of its power. 
There is an intrinsic beauty and harmony in this 
idea of motion, as it presents a perfect and consistent 
chain of graduated links in unison with that of the ani- 
mal and vegetable chain, and agrees with true experi- 
ence, and confirms all observation. Let us glance at 
some of its parts just enough to convey the idea. One 
substance can, for instance, be set in motion more easi- 
ly than another. Rock can be moved more easily than 
the same bulk of mineral. Earth can be more easily 
moved than rock. Water can be more easily moved 
than earth. Air can be more easily moved than water. 
The gaseous fluids can be more easily moved than air. 
Electricity can be more easily moved than the gaseous 



84 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

fluids — and Mind we know possesses the attribute of 
self-motion. 

As we mount up higher and still higher, contemplat- 
ing matter in its various grades of subtilty, as so many 
links in the vast chain, we perceive a gradual approach 
toward motion. And can we, as philosophers, reason- 
ably stop till we reach that substance whose attribute 
is motion 1 Without this, there certainly could not be 
that absolute perfection in the chain of elementary sub- 
stances which constitutes one infinite and all-perfect 
whole. As the particles become more and more subtile 
as we rise, this last substance may be fine, sublimated, 
and ethereal, beyond human thought. It may be un- 
particled matter ! It is the infinite Mind in living, 
self-existing organism in ail its perfection, whose at- 
tribute is never-ceasing self-motion, and the result of 
that motion is infinite thought, infinite intelligence, and 
boundless power. 

In regard to the other operations of nature spoken 
of by the objector, such as the motions we witness in 
the evaporation of water and its subsequent condensa- 
tion, and in the ever-varied movement of winds, and 
the subtile action of electricity as possessing self- 
motion, I would say, that this is philosophically impos- 
sible. Light and heat are not in themselves elements, 
but they are merely the effects of electricity poured 
with inconceivable swiftness in streaming oceans from 
the sun, and are produced by its friction on the parti- 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 85 

cles of our air. This heat evaporates water, rarefies 
the air, and produces winds. These sweep the globe, 
wave forests, and move the billows of the deep. Elec- 
tricity is the prime agent of Deity to develop, through 
the energy of finite life and finite mind, the vegetable 
and animal forms, and to move globes through fields of 
space. As electricity is the universal and invisible 
agent by which are carried on all the multifarious ope- 
rations of nature, how rational the conclusion — how 
sublime the thought, that it is moved by the presence 
and majesty of one self- existent, enthroned, and self- 
moving Mind, who arms it with power throughout im- 
mensity, and by its energy controls the universe. 

The whole subject is now before us ; and we perceive 
that in its condensed form, it is one of great simplicity 
and unity, and that it may be expressed in one sentence, 
as follows : There are but two grand objects perceived 
in nature, which are living, self-moving Mind, and dead, 
inert Matter ; and but two grand forms, which are 
Organism and Sphere. In these two, it is to be un- 
derstood, are involved all the varieties of elements in 
living Mind, and all the varieties of elements in dead 
Matter — -and that electricity is the connecting link be- 
tween the two — that it is the universal agent employed 
to act upon, to move, control, and develop dead matter, 
according to the laws of life — that in man's mind is 
congregated a portion of all the varieties of life-ele- 
ments from the highest intellectual, link by link, down 
8 



86 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

to the lowest vegetable life — and that in his body is 
congregated a portion of all the varieties of dead-ele- 
ments in existence — and that hence all the varieties of 
organism, in the whole animal and vegetable chain, are 
involved, and developed in his being, and constitute 
him the image of God and a microcosm of the universe. 
And as all the varieties of life and of organism in all 
creatures below him are congregated and convolved in 
his wonderful and complicate being, so it agrees with 
Hebrew Scripture, which says : " And the Lord God 
breathed into his nostrils the breath of Lives ; and 
man became a living soul." The plural form is used, 
and if strictly rendered, it would read — " the spirit of 
lives." 

And it is to be understood, that each and all of animal 
and vegetable existences below man, according to their 
position in the chain of being, take in only part or parts 
of the lower elements of mind, and those forms of life 
and its laws evolved from their Creator, which stand in 
aptitude to that department of nature where they were 
produced. A man or a fish could not, therefore, have 
been created at the bottom of the ocean imbedded in 
mud, but an oyster could. Nor could man have been 
created in the waters of the deep, while a fish could. 
The whole varieties of life emanating from the infinite 
Creator, as the spirit-fountain, could not take effect in 
those two departments of nature, according to the laws 
of His immutable being, so as to produce man in 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 87 

either. Hence, by a germ of lower life from the 
spirit-fountain, the inferior oyster in the one, and the 
more perfect fish in the other , were developed. Nor 
could either of those two have been created on the 
land, where man received his being, nor before mud 
and water, adapted to their development, had an ex- 
istence. As the creation of the globe, from its com- 
mencement to its final termination, was successive 
through all the intervening ages, so the oyster and 
fish, and many other creatures still higher in the scale 
of being, could, and did have an existence before it 
was finished ; but man could not, because all the laws 
of life, from God's being, must stand in aptitude and 
relation to all the laws of matter of the finished globe 
before man, the finite microcosm and image of God, 
could be created. For a full explanation, see my 
Seventh Lecture on Philosophy of Electrical Psy- 
chology. 

I have now proved the existence of one infinite God, 
of absolute perfection, who is the Spirit-fountain of all 
life, motion, intelligence, and power, and is the Creator 
and governor of the universe. I have proved, that all 
the elements of life, from the highest intelligence down 
to the lowest vegetable life, are the varieties that exist 
in and constitute the perfection of His infinite Mind, 
and that these, as they exist on earth in the several 
links of the animal and vegetable chain, are but the 
correspondent varieties that have emanated at their 



88 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

creation from the fountain of His being. I have proved, 
that the lower elements of His mind, which are veget- 
able life, and the last self-motive force, fasten on 
electricity ) which is the original state and highest sub- 
tile link of inert matter, and through which, as His 
universal Jlgent^ He comes in contact with all inert 
matter in its created form, and by it moves and gov- 
erns all worlds. On the basis of His existence, I have 
established and proved, beyond all rational doubt, the 
consequent truth of human immortality, and the im- 
mortality of all animal and vegetable life, as being 
originally involved in His nature and an emanation from 
His being. And this emanation, in connection with 
the circumstance, that each having been compelled by 
His power to develop their respective bodies as the 
only medium through which He imparts to His crea- 
tures an identical existence separate from Himself, is 
all that is meant by their being created, or having 
sprung from Him as the source. And the very con- 
ception of the thought is enough to inspire the soul 
with wonder and adoration. 

I have also proved, that the mind of man exists in- 
dependent of a physical, organized brain, and was 
even the cause that developed and produced it, and 
that it is, consequently, immortal — will survive the 
destruction of the corporeal fabric, through which it 
received its identity — triumph over the ruins of death 
— pass into a future state, clothed in an electrical 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, ,89 

body, and expand and brighten in mental and moral 
capacity without end ! And having proved, that it 
requires all the elements of life, from the highest in- 
tellectual, link by link, through all the varieties of the 
animal, down to the lowest life in the vegetable chain, 
to constitute perfect Mind in God ; and as these are 
immortal in their harmoniously combined state in Him 
and also in man as His finite image, so are they, like- 
wise, in the several identical links throughout the 
whole animal and vegetable chain, and will exist im- 
mortal in a future world. If it be said, that the lower 
elements of life are not immortal in each and every 
animal and vegetable, then they are not immortal in 
God, If this be so, then God cannot come in con- 
tact with electricity as His agent, nor by it move 
globes through immensity, nor control dead matter — 
because electricity, which is the highest state and last 
Imk of inert matter, can come in direct contact with 
vegetable life only, which is the lowest elementary link 
in the chain of Mind, and it cannot come in direct 
contact with any other of the higher elements of mind. 
And as the intervening links between electricity and 
the higher elements of mind are in this case broken — 
yes, struck out of existence, and the whole graduated 
harmony between the highest and the lowest destroyed, 
so the government of the world by its sovereign Crea- 
tor must cease. Like a paralyzed arm, though per- 
fect in shape and still joined to the body ; and though 



90 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

the enthroned mind in the brain retains all its intel- 
lectual and voluntary powers, yet the intervening links 
of life in the chain, as a connecting media between it 
and the limb, being interrupted and the harmony de- 
stroyed, so the mind with all its energies cannot move 
and control the hand. 

And I may still further add, that if these lower ele- 
ments of life are not immortal in each and every ani- 
mal and vegetable, then they are not immortal in man. 
And if this be so, then the human race in eternity 
cannot come in direct contact with electricity, nor con- 
template the infinite variety and beauty of the Creator's 
works, nor receive a single impression from external 
objects, nor from one another as social companions, 
because all impressions are electrically transmitted to 
the highest elements of mind through the connected 
medium and harmony of its lower elements, and from 
the higher through the lower are given out, or returned 
from the mind to be communicated to another. We 
are ever to remember, that God is the God of nature, 
which must stand in one unbroken harmony with His 
being. And we are also to bear in mind, that man is 
His microcosm image for us to study. " And what 
can we reason but from what we know?" 

The whole chain of being which we contemplate with 
so much pleasure here, and whose immense variety 
affords us so much transport and delight, will not be 
struck out of existence and leave a melancholy and 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 91 

cheerless blank of desolation in future scenes ! But 
the whole will rise in one unbroken beauty, and stand 
complete in perfect and immortal harmony for human 
contemplation, study, and never-ceasing delight in eter- 
nity. What a thought of profound and more than dou- 
ble gloom, that the whole chain of living beauty, except 
man, shall be struck from light and life, and consigned 
to the dark bosom of annihilation, to be no more ! 
Many a noble horse and dog know more than many of 
the human race; and in undying affection and faith- 
fulness to man, have been far more useful to the world 
than many a prowling pirate — have even saved many 
a life, and, more than the pirate, deserve a future 
scene ! and an empanneled jury of angels would render 
the verdict in their favor in the very courts of heaven ! 
What ! shall but one link of the immeasurable 
chain — man alone — survive the general wreck of over- 
whelming desolation 1 No ! Every link shall survive 
the ruinable tomb, and with man, exist in a future 
world. There the trees of life will wave their am- 
brosial spirit-forms in the breezes of paradise ! There 
will be the immortal bowers in perennial bloom for us 
to frequent ! fields in living green for us to rove, and 
decked with spirit-flowers of unfading beauty! And 
the whole living, intellectual throng, filled with those 
indescribable feelings which pertain only to that future 
world, will soar, expand, and brighten forever as the 
ages of eternity roll. 



92 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 



CHAPTEK VIII. 

Having philosophically proved, both a priori and 
a posteriori^ and as I conceive, beyond every reasonable 
doubt, the truth of the being of a self-existent and in- 
telligent Creator, and the consequent truth of human 
immortality, and that of the whole animal and vegetable 
chain of life and beauty, I now proceed to argue the 
third and last proposition — 

THE TRUTH OF DIVINE REVELATION. 

I shall attempt to perform this task on a plan en- 
tirely new, and the only one, as I conceive, that stands 
in perfect aptitude to the momentous subject, or by 
which its truth can be fairly, and satisfactorily tested. 
The usual mode that has been adopted, though useful 
in its place, and often by some spirited writers inge- 
niously accomplished, yet they have not, in my appre- 
hension, any more successfully proved a divine Revela- 
tion, than Paley has the being of a God. This is not 
for the want of talents or scholarship, for heaven grant 
that I possessed the gifts of some among them I could 
name, but it is for the want of having conceived the 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 93 

true plan, which is, in my opinion, all in all in hand- 
ling any subject. The plan should be adapted to the 
nature of each subject under the writer's consideration. 
I see no way that a divine Revelation can be tested and 
proved, but by a Philosophical Axiom. This is the 
mode I shall adopt and strictly pursue in my present 
investigation. 

On approaching this subject, I am duly sensible of 
the various attacks which have been made by infidel 
writers, both Atheists and Deists, on the Old and New 
Testament Scriptures as containing a divine revelation. 
I am, moreover, aware of the various forms of attack 
which different writers have adopted in books, pam- 
phlets, and periodicals. On a candid survey of the 
whole field, I am sensible, that, without any serious 
departure from the rules of logical acumen, they may 
all be summed up and embraced in two general modes 
of attack. The first is that adopted by the ingenious 
and eloquent Volney in his a Ruins." It is a produc- 
tion of great elegance and chasteness of style, full of 
deep-stirring pathos, and manifesting a corresponding 
sincerity and candor in the author. And the second 
is that adopted by Paine in his " Age of Reason," 
containing much ingenuity of thought, but often ex- 
pressed in a coarse, vulgar style, intermingled with 
blackguardism and ribaldry, that render it repulsive, 
and even offensive to many of its readers. The style 
of his composition is the more objectionable, because 



94 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

a man of his powers of thought could have attained 
the same object he had in view as well by an elegance 
and chasteness of diction as by the one he adopted and 
pursued. And though the arguments of both these 
writers are spread out over the whole Atlantic Ocean, 
where they have succeeded in drawing their opposers 
in a wild-goose chase after them to answer their argu- 
ments in detail, yet the whole may be reduced to a 
very narrow circumference of space, and disposed of in 
a few words. 

Volney ingeniously summons the devotees of all re- 
ligions before him — the Jew, the Christian, the Ma- 
hometan, and the Heathen nations, are all blended 
together in one promiscuous throng ! He calls upon 
all sects to make a free and full statement of the 
origin and doctrines of their several religions, and in 
doing of which, they intermutually contradict, crimi- 
nate, and recriminate each other. They each and all 
claim to have received a divine revelation from their 
several deities, through certain chosen and inspired 
servants, who established its truth by miracles, by suf- 
ferings, and by martyrdom. Each sect contends, that 
its religion is true, and that all others are false ; and 
each, on being disputed or even questioned, is ready to 
lay down his life on the spot, as a martyr in testimony 
of its truth, and of the sincerity of his faith and de- 
votion to his cause, and they are about commencing 
the work of self-torture. Amid this Babel, this up- 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 95 

roar and confusion of religious elements, Volney calls 
them to order, and propounds certain questions on sub- 
jects well known, and they all concur in the same an- 
swer, without a dissenting voice. They all agree, for 
instance, that two and two are equal to four ! But 
when he calls their attention to a subject they do not 
know, and asks, for instance, whether the moon is in- 
habited, they all again disagree in their opinions. Some 
say it is — some say it is not — others think it is^ — oth- 
ers think it is not — some are undecided, and think it 
worth knowing — while others think it a very silly 
question ! 

From this Volney draws the conclusion, that as they 
all unanimously agree upon known subjects, and all 
disagree in their religions, so they know nothing in re- 
lation to their being true, and that they are all in 
reality false ! And as the Mahometan and all the 
Heathen nations give just as plausible reasons for the 
revelation and establishment of their several religions, 
as the followers of Christ do for theirs, so Christianity 
is false and baseless as any other religion on earth ! 
And being all false and groundless, he contends that 
the various religions and religious sects are the prolific 
source of more dissensions and quarrels, wars and 
fightings, between nations and individuals, than all 
other causes combined, and should therefore be aban- 
doned. Such, then, is the sum and substance of the 
argument and object of the eloquent and feeling Volney. 



96 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

Paine sits down to his task in the spirit and charac- 
ter of a shrewd lawyer who has no witnesses to sum- 
mon into court to sustain his cause as plaintiff, and 
therefore endeavors to rout his adversary, and gain the 
suit, by assailing the reputation, en masse, of all the 
opposing witnesses, laboring to make them out a set of 
scoundrels, unworthy of the least title to credulity, 
and by attempting to point out contradictions, incon- 
sistencies, and discrepancies in their written deposi- 
tions. Such is the sum and substance of his attack 
on the writers of the Old and New Testaments. He 
conceals their many virtues, and attacks their vices, 
which they had the candor and sterling honor to con- 
fess and record in their histories and written deposi- 
tions against themselves, which is not the case with 
other men who write their own lives, or send their 
depositions into court. He studiously avoids noticing 
those high-toned moral maxims, precepts^ and duties 
they penned for mankind to practice and pursue, and 
which were infinitely in advance of their times, and he 
carefully selects and brings forward all that he deems 
absurd and objectionable, and holds up the picture in 
its worst light, without making the least allowance for 
the dark and barbarous ages in which they lived, or 
for the ignorance and barbarity in which all nations 
around them were involved, and from which Israel was 
but just emerging. He assumes the prerogative of 
prosecutor, counsel, judge, jury, and executioner — ex- 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 97 

amines the witnesses — argues the cause — renders the 
verdict — pronounces sentence — and> Samson-like, slays 
his thousand Philistines — proclaims victory — swaggers 
out of court, and sings his own Te Deum ! ! ! How 
different from the lofty and noble-minded Volney ! 

One or both these modes of attack have been invari- 
ably adopted by Atheists and Deists, when attempting 
to disprove divine Revelation. They as invariably 
resort to Volney and Paine for their stereotyped mate- 
rials to demolish the Bible, as clergymen do to Paley, 
to prove the existence of the Creator, and demolish 
Atheism ! And surely the arguments of the former 
have become quite as commonplace and stale as those 
of the latter. 

Were I not restricted to a certain space, I would 
deem it an easy task to prove that all \k^ religions in 
existence, that Volney called up before him, were not 
in a single instance originally the inventions of men. 
It is easy to prove that they are all of them corrup- 
tions either of the religion of Noah, Moses, or Christ, 
and therefore originated in a divine Revelation, and 
have some of the primal germs as a redeeming quality 
yet left. But aside from all this, Volney's position is 
far, very far, from being sound and tenable. On the 
premiss assumed by him, it is easy, for instance, to 
call up all the various forms of government on earth, 
and summon the several nations, who have adopted 
them, to appear. Each nation contends for the wm 

9 



98 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

periority of its own government as the only true form, 
condemns all others, while at the same time individuals 
under the same government differ as to the utility and 
policy of certain laws, and form different political sects, 
who know, too, how to quarrel. Hence, according to 
Volney's reasoning, all governments are false— there is 
no true one — all laws are wrong, and should therefore 
be abandoned ! The elements of society should be de- 
composed — all nations be thrown back into barbarism 
— each individual do what he please, and defend him- 
self the best way he can ! The same would apply to 
all sciences in which men differ, and about which they 
wrangle — to all modes of making machinery, manufac- 
turing fabrics, and even to the different languages 
spoken by the various nations. Each conceives his 
own to be the right and the true in all, and all others 
to be worthless and unintelligible— desires their ex- 
tinctionj and his own to become universal. So, accord- 
ing to the premiss assumed by Volney, let all sci- 
ences be extinguished — all manufacturing cease— all 
languages die, and the world of moving life and steady 
progression come to a dead halt- — fold up their arms, 
and become an inactive forest of standing mutes ! 
Whatever mankind cannot all agree in as exact as that 
two and two are equal to four, is false, and should be 
immediately abandoned ! ! ! His premiss being false, 
his conclusions are therefore false. Quod fuit de- 
monstrandum. 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 99 

As to Paine's mode of reasoning, I would remark, 
that its fundamental position, so far from proving the 
divine witnesses to be entitled to no credit, presents, 
on the contrary, if candidly considered, the highest 
and most perfect evidence in the power of man to pro- 
duce of their sincerity, honor, and veracity as wit- 
nesses. Their whole object manifestly is to recom- 
mend a virtuous course of conduct and righteous 
principles for mankind to embrace, cherish, and pur- 
sue, and to condemn a course of vicious indulgence 
and unrighteousness in all men : and in their testimony 
they condemn it in themselves, and confess, forsake, 
and record it for the perusal and inspection of all sub- 
sequent generations to the end of time. 

Suppose, for instance, that a set of witnesses should 
be introduced into court, even in this enlightened age, 
and while testifying against the criminal arraigned at 
the bar, they are interrogated in relation to their own 
character and conduct ; and suppose that each should 
frankly, without the least hesitation, and with deep 
emotion, admit his own wrongs, however dark, knowing 
that his testimony was to be published to the world, to 
be read by millions, what conclusion would the court 
and all spectators draw as to their competency and title 
to credibility ? To this question there can be but one 
answer given, and but one impression felt by every candid 
and noble-minded man, All such would, with aston- 
ishment and admiration, exclaim— what men of candor, 



100 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

truth, honor, and sincerity they are ! They testify 
openly against themselves — against their own reputa- 
tion and interest, with the same frankness that they 
testify against their enemy, who is the criminal at the 
bar ! And this is the strongest possible proof that 
their testimony is true — because an unprincipled man 
always, even in cross-examination, makes evasive an- 
swers, conceals the truth against himself, or swears 
falsely, and endeavors to make the most favorable im- 
pression upon the minds of the court and others as to 
the purity of his character for truth and veracity. 

In this view of the subject it is clearly perceived, 
that Paine, in attempting to impeach the veracity of 
the sacred witnesses by an examination of their own 
written depositions, in which, and without a cross- 
examination, they have voluntarily confessed and re- 
corded their own sins, has, in reality, but at the same 
time undesignedly, furnished the strongest possible 
proof of their truth and veracity as witnesses, and of 
the credibility to which their testimony is entitled. 
And further — as every man who writes a history of 
his own life proclaims, and perhaps, magnifies, his 
own virtues, and conceals his vices — or if he happens 
to have been detected in them, endeavors to pal- 
liate his offenses by giving them a smooth and false 
drapery, and exhibiting them in a favorable, if not a 
justifiable light — and as no sacred writer has ever done 
this, so Paine has also unintentionally furnished the 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT.. 101 

highest testimony I have ever seen published ( if view- 
ed aright), of their being divinely inspired ! They 
have, in all candor, done what all others have avoided, 
or dared not attempt, and therefore they stand out 
boldly in unrivaled majesty before the world as a grand 
and solitary exception to all generatious of men before 
or since their day ! Though fallible men, they were 
yet the noblest of human beings, and died, not only as 
martyrs for truth, but are yet made martyrs to their 
own sterling honor and sincerity by sometimes insin- 
cere, or it may be unprincipled men ! But there they 
stand on the sacred page, immailed in their own unri- 
valed magnanimity and unsullied greatness, and there 
they will stand forever ! 



102 IMMORTALITY TPIUMPHANT, 



CHAPTER IX. 

I now candidly inquire, what do the apparent con- 
tradictions, discrepancies, and inconsistencies pointed 
out and argued by Atheists and Deists in detached 
portions of the volume of Revelation amount to, in 
disproving the great harmony of its truth ? Nothing 
at all ! Their labor has been in vain, and so has also 
the labor of those who have undertaken to answer 
them in detail. By adopting their mode of reasoning 
to disprove the volume of Revelation, I can, on the 
same principle, easily disprove the great truth of the 
volume of Nature, whose divinity and harmony as a 
whole they so much admire and praise. By taking 
detached portions, I can point out contradictions, dis- 
crepancies, and inconsistencies in the animal, veget- 
able, and mineral departments. Let us for a moment 
turn to the volume of Nature, and see how matters 
there are written down. 

Waving all that might be said of apparent contra- 
dictions and discrepancies in the animal kingdom, I 
will turn for a moment, first, to the vegetable depart- 
ment, and see how matters stand in that volume, which 
the skeptic eulogizes as perfect in the harmony of its 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 103 

truths and teachings. What can be more contradict- 
ory than the hundreds of poisons that will produce 
death, and some of them instantly, and the various 
kinds of wholesome food and delicious fruits that will 
nourish the body and sustain life ? Can you reconcile 
these contradictions and discrepancies'? They are 
written down in the book of nature. There are also 
contradictions and discrepancies in thousands of in- 
stances in the operations of nature. There is a calm, 
and the ocean is as still as the sleeping infant on its 
mother's breast. There is a storm, and the awful 
hurricane awakes the slumbering ocean into fury — the 
billows roll mountain high, dash ships into atoms, or 
sink them with their loads of human life. This is 
written on another page of the same book, and can 
you reconcile calms and storms 1 Is not the whole 
volume of nature a set of lies ? 

Again, all substances, that have no chemical affinity 
for each other, are so many contradictions, discrepan- 
cies, and inconsistencies, and in a detached point of 
view also prove, like the above, that there is no truth 
in the great affinity and harmony of nature ! For ex- 
ample, because oil and water detached from other sub- 
stances cannot be made to mi^:, and because to an un- 
skilled mind they appear contradictory and irreconcila- 
ble, does this disprove the truth of the universal har- 
mony of nature ? Or does it even prove, that oil and 
water cannot be made to unite under any circumstances 



104 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 

whatever? Certainly not, for the chemist who has 
looked deeper into this subject, can add a third sub- 
stance, and make them perfectly combine. Take sub- 
stances, as a whole, throughout the volume of nature, 
and there is no such thing as chemical non-affinities in 
her great laboratory. All is one combined and perfect 
harmony — one great affinity of substances by which 
she carries on her operations, while non-affinities only 
exist chemically between detached portions, and do not 
contradict the great truth of universal harmony in the 
volume of nature. 

Two. positives in electricity resist, or repel each oth- 
er. But even two positive electricities, when set in 
motion, and combining with other properties in the at- 
mosphere, unite and mingle their currents into one. 
And this is the highest state of non-affinity, and one 
on which all other non- affinities in nature depend. 
And though there may be substances that no human 
knowledge can at present chemically combine or recon- 
cile with the universal harmony of the great volume of 
the material universe, yet is this any evidence that 
such harmony does not exist ? What opinion would 
we form of the man who should take his stand on such 
a premiss as this, and pronounce the whole irrecon- 
cilable and false? or who should say, that poisons 
could not be neutralized and rendered harmless? or 
who should say, that no poisons exist in the most whole- 
some food and delicious fruits, and cannot be extracted 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 105 

and made to take life, while they are harmless and even 
nourishing in their chemically combined state ? What 
opinion, I ask, would we form of the man who should 
reason thus, and on this ground pronounce the great 
Book of Nature destitute of harmony, contradictory, 
irreconcilable, and false? We would smile at, and 
pity his stupidity, self-conceit, and ignorance. 

" All discord is harmony not understood, 
All partial evil is universal good, 
And spite of pride in erring reason's spite, 
One truth is clear — whatever is, is right." 

We see, then, the diminutive and unen viable position 
in which Paine and his more puny imitators stand be- 
fore the world as reasoners upon the subject of theolo- 
gical science ! From seeming contradictions, inconsis- 
tencies, and discrepancies, they demolish at one fell 
blow the whole great fabric of harmonious truths in the 
volume of Revelation, and prove the whole a pack of 
lies ! Surely wisdom died with Paine, and his admir- 
ers only repeat his lessons on the same principle, that 
the parrot speaks words by imitating the human voice, 
and many of them do it about as understanding^ ! I 
should like to pursue this subject extensively and in 
detail through the several departments of nature, and 
show the skeptic the whole amount and force of his 
boasted reasoning to disprove the entire harmony and 
beauty of the volume of revelation, but my prescribed 



106 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

limits will not permit. I have merely thrown out the 
hint for some abler mind to pursue, and will only re- 
mark, that if the Bible contains a record of a Revela- 
tion from God, it will naturally exhibit the same cor- 
responding features we see exhibited in the volume of 
Nature, making allowance only so far as a moral sub- 
ject may differ from a physical one. 

In order to prove the truth of divine Revelation, there 
is no occasion of an extended argument, as it does not 
depend upon a multitude of words, nor upon disproving 
all that infidel writers have urged in their publications. 
Even if every single objection they have presented were 
answered in detail, and every position they have taken 
and fortified, were stormed and demolished, yet this 
would not prove the Bible to be a divine Revelation. 
It might after all be false. If it be indeed a Revela- 
tion from God, its truths, like those in the volume of 
nature, must be self-evident when properly presented 
to the mind, and clearly understood. This great and 
fundamental position has been overlooked by those who 
have written in its defense, and in answer to those who 
have assailed it. 

It may perhaps be said, that if its truths, like those 
in nature, are self-evident, then they must, in like man- 
ner, be distinctly seen or felt, and, therefore, cannot 
be proved by argument, inasmuch as a self-evident 
proposition admits of no such proof. In reply to this 
I would say, that, though the truths in the volume of 



I MMO RT A LIT Y Til I V M PI I A NT. l07 

nature are self-evident when seen and understood, yet 
it may require experiments or arguments in aptitude 
with the several points presented, in order to make 
them understood. It is just so in the volume of Reve- 
lation. Though its truths are self-evident to the mind 
when presented and understood, yet it requires an ar- 
gument in aptitude with their nature to make them un- 
derstood. I shall therefore attempt to prove the truths 
contained in the Scriptures to be a divine Revelation 
from God by a Philosophical Axiom. I must start 
then with a self-evident proposition, for this is what 
we are to understand by Axiom, and this must be kept 
in view throughout the whole argument, and in a philo- 
sophical Axiom we must find at last the result, and by 
this result we shall know whether the Scriptures as a 
divine Revelation, are true or false. 



lUS IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 



CHAPTEE X. 

The lion lives upon flesh, and the sheep lives upon 
vegetables. This is self-evident. There is an internal 
aptitude between the stomach of the lion and the flesh 
which he subsists, and also between the stomach 
of the sheep and the vegetable upon which he i . 
Now suppose we should take a lion just 

ready to be weaned, an never tasted meat, 

and feed him with grass ? He would of course ex; 
ence pain, sicken, and pine awa : there i 

exact aptitude between his stoi the VEget 

upon which he is feeding. He iistress and pain, 

3 not the cause. Foi he has never tasted 
meat. He is uneasy, and yearns for ing toward 

which his very being gravitates, but he knows not what. 
While in this perishing condi we should 

suddenly present him a piece of warm bloody meat. 
He tastes, and. on finding it perfectly i I to his 

appetite, he seizes it — roars his native growl to warn 
intruders, who would r: .to keep their 

disto it. He knows and feels that ho 

has at last found his ;- 1 adapted to his 

being, though daily 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT,, 109 

to feed upon it — thrives, and his uneasiness, distress, 
and pain, disappear. 

We will now consider the opposite nature. Let the 
lamb just ready to be weaned, and that has never 
tasted grass, be fed with meat. He would, in like 
manner, as did the young lion, feel distress and pain, 
sicken, and daily pine away, because there is no exact 
aptitude between his stomach and the flesh upon which 
he is feeding. But when he comes in contact with the 
grass-field, he begins to feed, and soon knows this to 
be the food adapted to his appetite and nature. He 
thrives, and his uneasiness, distress, and pain are 
gone. He is satisfied and physically at ease, because 
there is a perfect aptitude between his stomach and 
the vegetable upon which he feeds. The lion and the 
lamb are now at rest, because they are each partakers 
of that food which is in perfect harmony with the ele- 
ments of their being. The lion, we perceive, cannot 
subsist upon the lamb's food, nor can the lamb 
subsist upon that of the lion. And thus it is 
with the whole animal creation — beast, bird, fish, in- 
sect—each has a constitution of nature adapted to a 
certain kind of food, or varieties of food. All this is 
self-evident as a philosophical axiom. 

Now, there is nothing more self-evident, than that 
£he human mind is fed with impressions, and as cer- 
tainly so as the body is with food. The mind is not 
only fed, but it is cherished and expanded in its pow- 
10 



110 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

ers, and strengthened and made happy by the impres- 
sions of truth adapted to its mental and moral nature, 
even as the body is cherished, strengthened, and made 
easy by its natural food. And the mind requires its 
mental and moral sustenance of truth, in perfect apt- 
itude with its nature, to render it contented and happy, 
as much so as the body does its physical sustenance to 
render it healthful and free from pain. Truth is, in- 
deed, the element and food of the soul, and it must 
stand in perfect aptitude to its various intellectual and 
moral elements, so as to produce peace with all its 
pleasurable feelings and emotions. Embracing and 
cherishing this truth must unite duty and happiness in 
one. Nothing short of this can be the real truthful 
food of the mind, adapted in every respect to its na- 
ture and wants. Such truth, however simple and self- 
evident it may appear after it is discovered, we shall 
presently see is beyond the natural powers of the hu- 
man mind to discover, and requires a revelation from 
God. 

This truth, of which I have been speaking in the 
collective sense and singular form, does not consist in 
one single truth, but many. The organized mind pos- 
sesses various powers or organs, and their number is 
determined by the correspondent number which it has 
developed in the brain. And each of these organs 
again are susceptible of various impressions and sen- 
sations, both intellectual and moral. Hence it fol- 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. Ill 

lows, that those corresponding varieties of intellectual 
and moral sustenance that exactly meet and satisfy 
these various wants, adapted to the enjoyment of each 
of its organs, constitute the true food of the soul. 
This is perfectly simple, rational, and philosophical. 
As an axiom it is self-evident. 

We perceive, then, that the mind has its intellectual 
and moral powers. Its intellectual powers are adapt- 
ed to the original discovery and investigation of the 
various arts and improvements that exist in human so- 
ciety, and to the discovery and investigation of the 
sciences that are written and involved in the volume 
of Nature. It is their office also to weigh and balance 
probabilities — to compare and judge of right and 
wrong, and of truth and error, according to the mental 
capacity, and even to judge of the probable truth or 
falsehood of a divine Revelation. And its moral pow- 
ers are adapted to receive and feel impressions of a 
pleasing and delightful character, called the approba- 
tion of conscience in the performance of righteous 
deeds, and the horrors of guilt and condemnation in 
the commission of evil deeds, the whole being in ac- 
cordance w T ith, and graduated by, the capacity and 
decision of the intellectual powers. 

There is also a natural and a moral right in human 
conduct, and these two may act separately or in con- 
junction, as I shall presently show. Hence there must 
also be a natural and moral wrong in human designs 



112 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

and actions. When natural and moral right blend in 
man's bosom and harmonize in his designs and actions, 
it constitutes the enjoyment of divine Revelation, 
unites duty and happiness in one, and is the genuine 
food of the soul. From the premises now laid down, 
it is easy to distinguish truth from falsehood, when 
once embraced by the mind and put into practice — 
and it is equally easy to determine the truth or false- 
hood of a divine Revelation. Having every thing ready 
before us, let us now fairly try the test of any doctrine, 
as regards its pretensions to truth, in the face of a 
philosophical axiom, 

The Heathen mother sincerely believes, that unless 
she sacrifices her first-born infant to her heathen dei- 
ties, by casting it into the sacred waters of the Ganges, 
the curse of the gods must remain upon her and her 
future progeny, through the whole period of mortal 
life, even clown to the silent grave. But if she per- 
forms this distressing rite, that blessings will attend 
her and her future offspring. Deeply impressed, that 
such is, indeed, her solemn but painful duty, which 
she may not forego, and lingering over the sleeping 
beauty of her child, she gazes with maternal anxiety 
upon its unstained brow, takes it in her arms, and 
with pensive step, she proceeds to the Ganges. Hav- 
ing selected as favorable a position as possible for her 
purpose, she there stands motionless, pale, and serene 
at the water's side. And that she may occasion her 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 113 

child as little suffering as possible, she watches the ap- 
proach of a crocodile, so that she may cast it into his 
jaws, to be instantly crushed and its miseries termi- 
nated. With those feelings of deep anguish, that a 
mother's heart only can know, she makes the sacrifice* 
The deed is done, and her child is gone ! Bereaved 
and motherless, she returns with lamentation and dis- 
tress to her lonely home, now overcast with the shadow 
of death ! Though her heart is sorely smitten with 
desolation and bleeding with agony, yet she feels the 
approbation of her conscience in having discharged 
this painful duty. 

The case is now stated — and how easy it is to per- 
ceive in the face of a philosophical axiom, that though 
to the mother this was morally right, because her de- 
signs were good, yet, as it gave her pain, it was nat- 
urally wrong. Natural and moral right, in her case, 
were not blended — duty and happiness were not united 
in one. I am well aware, that in case she had not 
performed this act, believing its performance, at the 
same time, to be her solemn duty, she would have ex- 
perienced the full horrors of guilt and condemnation 
according to the measure of her intellectual and moral 
capacity. While I, therefore, freely admit, that to 
her it was morally right, yet it was, indeed, naturally 
wrong; for it was the cause of the inquietude, dis- 
tress, and pain she experienced. This proves, that 
her religion thus far is not the truth — proves that it is 



114 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

not the true food of the soul, any more than grass is 
the true food of the lion, or fresh meat is the true food 
of the lamb. These creatures partook freely of those 
substances, and the impressions they produced were 
'physical distress and pain, because they were not adapt- 
ed to their physical natures. This mother partook 
freely and awfully of her doctrine as the true bread 
from heaven, and its impression produced mental pain, 
because it was not adapted to her mental nature — was 
not the true food of life and peace to the soul. 

The Hindoo widow sincerely believes it to be her 
religious duty to seat herself upon the funereal pyre, 
and, with the dead body of her husband, be burned to 
ashes. She contemplates with dread her melancholy 
end, and feels all the withering horrors of this awful 
rite. Her religion enjoins upon her, as a solemn duty, 
to part with all the fond enjoyments of life — with 
friends and friendships— and to orphanize her children 
in an hour, and leave them, however diseased and 
helpless they may be, to the charities and mercies of a 
cold, unfeeling world ! All these painful contempla- 
tions, under such distressing circumstances, must nat- 
urally occupy a mother's mind. And, though she ex- 
periences the smiles of an approving conscience in the 
anticipation and performance of this act of self-immo- 
lation, and though, to her, it is morally right, yet it is 
naturally wrong, as it is the cause of much distress 
and pain to herself, to her friends, and her offspring. 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 115 

And as such, it cannot be the true food of the soul. 
Natural and moral right in this sad picture do not 
meet and blend. It does not unite duty and happiness 
in one, and is therefore, in the face of a philosophical 
axiom, proved false. I have furnished these two in- 
stances, and tested them, merely as the mode by which 
the reader may be enabled to test truth or falsehood 
in any doctrine, whether Heathen, Christian, or 
Atheistic It is the only bar at which they can be 
successfully arraigned, the only court from whose de- 
cision there can be no righteous appeal. 

If we candidly survey the Heathen religions of the 
world in its present or past ages, and take a scrutiniz- 
ing glance of their nature and character, as they stand 
in aptitude to the intellectual and moral elements of 
the human mind, w T e can readily determine, by bring- 
ing them to the test of a philosophical axiom, what 
part or parts of each religion are true or false. 
Though corruptions of the religion of Noah, Moses, or 
Christ, still they have some lingering elements of di- 
vine truth yet left, that sparkle as so many diamonds 
among the rubbish and ruins of centuries. The va- 
rious philosophers of the classic ages of Greece and 
Rome furnish a melancholy memento of the weakness 
and imbecility of the human mind to invent or discover 
that system of truth which is perfectly adapted to the 
intellectual and moral elements of man's being, and that 
unites duty and happiness in one. In search of this. 



116 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 

the most bright and burning intellects of Greece and 
Rome engaged. System after system of religious phi- 
losophy was invented by successive master spirits — was 
put into practice — and on being proved insufficient to 
answer man's wants, desires, and hopes, by uniting 
duty and happiness in one, was abandoned as worth- 
less. Even Stoicism had its day, contending that 
man's supreme happiness consisted in so blunting his 
feelings and steeling his heart, as to remain indifferent 
to joy or sorrow — unmoved by scenes of distress and 
pain ! They wandered about listless, with a stick and 
knapsack, and ate, drank, and slept in the streets ! 
From this extreme, on the one hand, and the system 
of Socrates, on the other, who ventured the bold and 
sublime thought of immortality in some spirit-land, 
and every intervening shade of system between these 
two extremes, we see the same evidence of human im- 
becility to discover that embodied complication of truth 
that unites duty, interest, and happiness in one, and 
that stands in perfect aptitude to the complicate ele- 
ments of the human mind. 

The lion and the lamb could not have created the 
food adapted to their physical natures, nor could man, 
with all his boasted intellectual powers. It required 
the same Being, who created the stomachs and bodies 
of these creatures, to create the food adapted to their 
appetites and natures. And as it required the same 
Creator, who organized the bodies of the lion and the 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 117 

lamb, to create also the food in aptitude and harmony 
with their physical being, so it required the same Cre- 
ator, from whom the mind of man came, to provide 
also a system of truth as its spiritual food adapted to 
its appetite, and in perfect aptitude and harmony with 
its intellectual and moral being. How could man in- 
vent a system of truth he had never seen nor known, 
adapted to his countless wants ? Strike all vegetable 
substances now on this globe and their seeds out of ex- 
istence, and though man has seen them, and even 
knows their chemical properties, yet it is infinitely 
more reasonable to contend, that he can, even with all 
their elementary ingredients at hand, reproduce the 
seeds by some chemical or galvanic process, and re- 
store to the lamb its vegetable food, than to contend, 
that he could discover by his reason, and reveal to the 
world, that system of truth and duty which is the true 
food of the soul, and which till then he had never seen 
nor known ! Man cannot comprehend his own mind, 
and how could he have discovered a system of truth 
adapted to that which he does not even understand % 
And let it be remembered, that the truths must em- 
body and meet all that exists in the moral wants and 
elements of that incomprehensible mind ! To discover 
such a perfect system of truth, which the nature of 
man suggested and demanded, all Heathen philoso- 
phers, from the earliest ages of the world down to the 
appearing of the Son of Man, failed ! The most learn- 



118 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

ed despaired, and seemed to agree with Socrates, that 
unless the gods interposed in man's behalf, and deign- 
ed to make known the truth adapted to his nature and 
wants, all human efforts to grasp it were vain. 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 119 



CHAPTER XL 

Christ, the Anointed, and called the living Son of 
the Highest, at length appeared in our world ! Un« 
taught in the schools of men, and free from all ostenta- 
tion, or any love of display, he commenced his instruc- 
tions. Though born and brought up a Jew, yet, unlike 
all other men that ever lived on earth, he seemed to 
inherit no national peculiarities. He was in spirit and 
action no more a Jew than he was a Gentile. Clothed 
with a solitary yet intrinsic power and greatness pecu- 
liarly his own, he stood on an elevation far above the 
world, where his broad and deep philanthropy and be- 
nevolence, unobstructed by national divisions of land 
or sea, enwrapped the human race, as the atmosphere 
does the globe, And though he claimed to be the 
world's Master, that is Teacher, yet he was clothed 
with true, dignified humility, and even disavowed being 
the author of the pure, energizing doctrine he taught, 
but proclaimed it as the doctrine of the Father who 
had sent him. 

Without leaning upon the arm of secular power for 
aid, but calmly resting an eye of confidence on the 
naked grandeur of eternity for support, he moved 



120 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

alone to set up a kingdom of righteousness and peace 
among men ! And while those who had engaged in 
establishing kingdoms by force of arms previous to his 
day, had at times their doubts and fears of success, 
yet the Master had none ! He uniformly spoke of the 
establishment of his kingdom and throne as a matter 
of course. He moved alone to establish by verbal in- 
struction a doctrine, which should stand unshaken amid 
the fall of empires, and outlast the wreck of ages ! 
And while those great philosophers of classic lore, 
who had preceded him in delivering their instructions, 
entertained doubts and fears as to the final establish- 
ment and durability of their several systems of doc- 
trine, yet the Master entertained none ! Not the ut- 
terance of a doubt or a fear ever fell from his lips, but 
he uniformly spoke of this also as a matter of course. 
So far from laying any deep schemes, or secret plans 
of operation to insure success, he simply instructs his 
disciples openly in his doctrine, and points out to them, 
with unerring certainty, the duties they were destined 
to perform, by imparting in their turn to others those 
instructions which should result in the renovation and 
happiness of the world. 

We perceive, then, that in delivering his instruc- 
tions he, unlike all who had preceded him, never ex- 
pressed a doubt of the ultimate success and final tri- 
umph of his doctrines over all others that had been*, 
then tvere, or might arise in future ages. And as it 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 121 

bore upon its front the impress of being an emanation 
from the Eternal Father, he pronounced it positively 
destined to stand unharmed — unmoved on the Rock of 
Ages, and that no power in the universe could prevail 
against it ! This is a point of great weight and inter- 
est, that not a solitary instance can be found where a 
doubt was ever intimated, from the commencement of 
his brilliant career to its godlike termination on the 
cross. No ! his confidence in the truth and triumph- 
ant success of his doctrine never forsook him in the 
agonies of death! Even there, in that trying hour, 
he calmly and securely wrapped about him the spirit 
and power of its immortal drapery, as his winding- 
sheet, by praying for and forgiving his murderers ! 
Even there, so far from breathing a doubt, he pro- 
nounced it finished, and resigned his spirit. Through- 
out the whole of this eventful scene, his conduct was 
perfectly consistent with his uniform declarations 
through life, that he was sent by the Father to reveal 
Him in His true paternal character to the world, and 
to bear witness to the truth, and he sealed the proof 
of his sincerity by his example through life, and his 
magnanimous conduct on the cross. In true benignity 
he stood on a mental and moral elevation above the 
world, robed in his own individual majesty, and spake 
as never man spake. Such was the Master. I cannot 
but repeat it — Such was the Master ! 

I have now, in as condensed a form as convenient, 
11 



122 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

presented Christ before you as the Vicegerent Son of 
the Father. And while the heathen systems of philos- 
ophy, and their several adherent sects, have been swept 
away centuries ago, and buried beneath the ever- rolling 
wave of time — while they have exhibited an existence 
about as ephemeral as their classic authors, the doc- 
trine of the Master has stood unmoved amid the as- 
saults and persecutions of men for eighteen hundred 
years ! And in unison with his predictions, having 
passed the scrutinizing ordeal and test of ages, it yet 
stands in all its symmetrical beauty, splendor, and 
power, pointing to eternity for its origin, and its des- 
tined goal ! And if skeptics contend, that his doc- 
trine is nevertheless false, and must one day expire 
and find its grave, yet they must grant, that his death, 
at least, with all the heart-stirring scenes of magnan- 
imity that hang around it, is robed in its own immi- 
nent immortality, and shall live in the throbbing 
impulses of deep affection in the hearts of generations 
unborn, till the sun shall be again, and for the last 
time, shrouded in night ! 

According to a custom of the Jews, no man could 
be a public teacher till he was thirty years of age. 
Obscure in his origin, and naturally retiring in his 
manners, yet when the Master's appointed time ar- 
rived, he entered without the least hesitation, or any 
apparent embarrassment, on the duties of his ministry. 
He suddenly emerged from his obscure retreat? and 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 123 

unexpected as the sun bursting from, the bosom of 
midnight, threw the light of his instructions on the 
world — broke its more than Egyptian night, and by 
the force of his living eloquence, as with an electric 
shock, startled creation, and aroused its moral element 
from slumber into the most intense action. Possessed 
of a spotless reputation, a discriminating mind, and an 
easy and commanding address, he produced a profound 
sensation wherever he moved. And as the Jews 
knew that he was, and admitted him io be, unlettered 
in the schools of men, tho excitement soon became 
general. And while all was consternation, uproar, and 
confusion in the religious elements around him, he 
alone, under the influence and power of his doctrine, 
remained calm, collected, dignified, as though the most 
ordinary affairs were transpiring. As might be natur- 
ally expected, under such stirring circumstances, the 
greatest anxiety and curiosity were awakened in every 
breast, and prompted the inquiry to know who he was ? 
and whether his doctrine were true ? In reply to the 
first, he answered that he was The Son, and that 
The Father had sent him to reveal His Name to 
men, and to bear witness to The Truth. And in 
reply to the second^ he answered them — My doctrine 

IS NOT MINE, BUT HlS THAT SENT ME. If ANY MAN 

WILL DO His will, he shall know of THE DOC- 
TRINE, WHETHER IT BE OF GoD, OR WHETHER I 
SPEAK OF MYSELF. 



124 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

Here the Master lays down a philosophical 
axiom, or what we call a self-evident proposition, 
as the only true mode by which his doctrine can be 
tested, as to its truth or falsehood, as a divine Reve- 
lation. As if he had said, " There is no need of your 
asking who I am? nor of your requiring me to show 
you some sign from heaven ! nor of your asking me to 
perform some marvelous work to prove the truth of 
my doctrine ? By these, its truth cannot be proved — 
no arguments of this class can reach it — no inductive 
philosophy even can approach it ! But try it, by sin- 
cerely embracing it, and putting it into practice. And 
if you find that it answers all your wants as a rational 
and moral being, by uniting your duty and happiness in 
one, then you shall know it is true — you shall know it 
is of God — and shall know that I do not speak of my- 
self. But, if you, on the contrary, shall find that it 
does not answer your wants, as a rational and moral 
being, under all circumstances in life, by uniting your 
duty and happiness in one — then you shall know it 
is false — you shall know it is not of God, and shall 
know that I speak of myself — for the whole is a matter 
of knowledge and not of belief. 

As the Master has laid down his own Golden Ax- 
iom as the Only Mode by which the truth or false- 
hood of his doctrine, as claiming to be a divine Revela- 
tion, can be tested and infallibly ascertained by its own 
internal, force in the soul— is ifc not passing strange, 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 125 

that the advocates of Christianity, when defending it 
against the attacks of infidel writers, overlook a point 
of such vital importance, which he recommends, and 
resort to abstract reasoning to prove his doctrine a 
divine Revelation? — and to Paley's watch story to 
prove the existence of a Creator ? They labor to prove 
the truth of his miracles and those of his apostles, 
and dwell with much pathos upon their privations, 
persecutions, sufferings, and the painful deaths they 
endured, as martyrs in his cause, to prove a divine 
Revelation ! 

However satisfactory the miracles of Christ and his 
companions were to eyewitnesses eighteen hundred 
years ago, and however necessary to the first establish- 
ment of Christianity, yet there are millions of our race 
who cannot be made to believe them at this distant day 
by argument, even though we should entirely satisfy 
them of the sincerity and faith of the apostles and early 
Christians. They will, after all, say that they might 
have been honestly deceived ! — and as miracles can be 
evidence to eyewitnesses only, so we must see them 
ourselves to believe, for Christ himself says, " that see- 
ing, ye might believe." Such are the common objec- 
tions. And I remark, that however necessary the won- 
derful works of mercy performed by the Master were 
to induce the eyewitnesses to believe, embrace, and 
test the truth of his doctrine as a divine Revelation in 
that trying day when life was at stake, as the conse- 



126 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

quence of so doing, yet we must now, when no such 
danger exists, adopt the true method laid down by him, 
and prove it to be a divine Revelation by such argu- 
ments as the nature of the subject involves, so that 
men may believe, so far at least as to induce them to 
embrace and test it practically, and then they will not 
only believe but know that it is of God. This they must 
know of the doctrine — that is the doctrine itself must 
teach it. Then belief in his works will follow as a 
matter of course. 

Suppose we should be called upon to prove the truth 
of the volume of Nature, would we go out of nature, 
and resort to abstract reasoning to prove its divinity ? 
No — but we would proceed to show its adaptation to 
animal and vegetable existence in all its elements to 
sustain life, and the aptitude in which its vegetable 
productions stand to the various natures, appetites, and 
conditions of its animated inhabitants. Then the vol- 
ume of Revelation must be proved on the same principle, 
by what is in it. We must not go out of the Book, 
but show that all the materials and varieties of its pro- 
ductions are the true food of the soul to sustain, nourish, 
and invigorate its moral life, and are perfectly adapted, 
and stand in exact aptitude to the nature and wants of 
man, as a rational and moral being. If the skeptic 
says, that the volume of Nature is a self-evident truth, 
and requires no proof of its divinity, I answer, no more 
so than the volume of Revelation, as I will soon show 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 127 

him. The only difference is, that Nature and all of 
its vegetable fruits, and the animal bodies these sus- 
tain, can be seen by the naked eye, but the truths — all 
the moral sustenance of Revelation and the living 
minds these sustain — are spiritual and invisible. They 
cannot be seen by the naked eye, but they can be felt 
and enjoyed in the soul ! 



128 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 



CHAPTER XII. 

The philosophical Axiom of the Master, as I call it, 
is one of moral philosophy ^ and by which all moral 
truths or falsehoods are to be tested. It is what I had 
in view at the commencement of my argument as the 
only mode by which the truth or falsehood of all moral 
maxims and duties contained in all the Heathen re- 
ligions in existence, can be accurately tested and infal- 
libly ascertained ; and by which alone, not only the 
truth or falsehood of the Bible, as containing a divine 
Revelation, can be ascertained and proved, but also the 
truths and falsehoods, mixed more or less in all Chris- 
tian doctrines, can likewise be detected with unerring 
certainty. This philosophical Axiom of the Master is 
the great Test Truth — The Central Pivot on 
which is suspended the balance of immutable justice, 
in which the moral truths and falsehoods of all doc- 
trines are to be weighed, and approved or found want- 
ing. It is not only the Mene, Mene, Tekel, Up- 
harsin to all that is false in all the established relig- 
ions in the numbered and finished kingdoms of the globe, 
but it is the Fan by which falsehood is to be separated 
from truth as chaff from the wheat. As his Golden 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 129 

Rule involves all moral duties, so his Axiom involves 
all moral truths. I shall, therefore, call it the Mas- 
ter's Golden Axiom. 

In testing the truths of his doctrine, as being a Rev- 
elation from God, there is no necessity of my noticing 
in detail all the moral and religious duties recorded in 
the Old and New Testaments, as this would be exceed- 
ing my prescribed limits. I will faithfully notice the 
substance of all the great moral and religious duties 
and principles involved in the teachings of Christ and 
his companions as a rule of action for mankind to em- 
brace and pursue in every condition of life, and deter- 
mine whether they are indeed adapted to the intellec- 
tual and moral elements of the human mind. I shall 
then leave it to the reader and to the pen of some abler 
writer, to apply the test of the Master's Golden Ax- 
iom in detail to any or all of the moral precepts in the 
entire volume of Revelation. 

There is one circumstance, and it is one of great 
moment and all-absorbing interest, that has been 
generally, if not entirely, overlooked by divines. It is 
this — that the living Son, and he 0/1/3/, "has declared 
the Father," and " revealed the Father," or given 
Him that name. He also says — " Father, glorify 
thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I 
had with thee before the world was. I have manifest- 
ed thy Name unto the men which thou gavest me out 
of the world." He only has revealed the paternal 



130 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

character of God. Moses and the prophets, in all 
their writings, so far from recognizing God in His 
paternal character, scarcely mention Him as Father , 
and then in a very different sense from the Master. 

The name father in the Old Testament is used with 
various significations, but is not applied to God in the 
sense of Father, as used by the Son, in the New Test- 
ament. " Jabal was the father of such as dwell in 
tents and of such as have cattle. 53 " Tubal was the 
father of such as handle the harp and organ." — Gen., 
iv. 20, 21. Here it means inventor or author. Abra- 
ham was the father of many nations. Here it means 
in faith. God made Joseph a father to Pharaoh. — -> 
Gen., xiv. 8. This means provider for his household 
and governor of his people. " Eliakim shall be a 
father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the 
house of Judah." — Isai., xxii. 21. This means gov- 
ernor of Israel. " Joab, the father of the valley of 
Charashim, for they were craftsmen."— 1 Chron., iv. 
14. This means overseer and director of these crafts- 
men, and owner or governor of the valley. 

Moses in all his writings applies the name but once 
to God. "Is He not thy father that hath brought 
thee ? hath He not made thee and established thee V y 
— Deut., xxxii. 6. Here it evidently means the de- 
liverer and ruler of Israel, who brought them out of 
Egyptian bondage, who gave them a law, and " made" 
them a nation, as the context clearly shows, and does 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 181 

not mean their individual but their national maker or 
creator. See also Isai., Ixiii. 16 ; Jer., iii. 4, and 
xxxi. 9; also Mai., i. 6, where it means the same. 
He promised to be a father to David — " I will be his 
father and he shall be my son. If He commit in- 
iquity I will chasten him with the rod of men, and 
with the stripes of the children of men. But my 
mercy shall not depart from him as from Saul. 55 — 
2 Sam., vii. 14. He made the same promise to Sol- 
omon — " I will be his father and he shall be my son, 
and I will not take my mercy from him. 55 — 1 Chron., 
xvii. 13. In both these cases it means their special 
protector, as kings, in the continued stability of their 
throne, more so than He was to Saul. " Have we not 
all one father ? hath not one God created us 1 Why 
deal we treacherously every man against his brother, 
profaning the covenant of our fathers." — Mai. ii. 
10. This has exclusive reference to. the Jews, and is 
generally very much misapplied. The name "father " 
in this instance, means Abraham, and "fathers" the 
other patriarchs and teachers. Thus — Have we not 
all one father, Abraham, from whom we descended? 
hath not one God created or made us a nation 1 that 
is, given us a national existence — why deal we treach- 
erously every man against his brother ? — the Jew or 
son of Abraham — not the Gentile. He is in one or 
two instances called the " father of the fatherless and 
the widow's God" or " husband. 5 ' This means pro- 



132 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

teeter, for why is He not called also the father of the 
widow ? This is all that is said in the Old Testament 
of His being father, except in Ps., lxxxix. 26, which is 
a prophecy of what Christ would say of God. Hence, 
as God said to Moses — " I appeared unto Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob by the name of God Almighty, but 
by my name, Jehovah, was I not known unto them," 
so we may say of Moses and the prophets — by my 
name — Father, was I not known unto them. 

The Old Testament Scriptures, as so many intro- 
ductory and progressive lessons, adapted to the condi- 
tion and capacity of those who were just emerging 
from the utter darkness of Heathenism into the star- 
light of divine truth, grew brighter and brighter as 
they approached the coming of the " True Light of 
the world." Cloud over cloud retired into the bosom 
of the west, and prophets, one after another, like stars 
of various degrees of magnitude and brilliancy, ap- 
peared in the moral firmament. Though the galaxy, 
by numbers, was gradually increasing, and reflecting 
more and more splendor on the world, yet the people 
saw as through a glass, darkly. At length the day 
began to dawn. Malachi, the last of its stars, sealed 
up the vision and the prophecy, wrote the last page of 
the Old Testament, and pointed forward to the first 
of the New. He stood, as it were, on an isthmus be* 
tween two worlds ! — extends his eye backward toward 
the creation .and introduction of the Old Testament 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 133 

dispensation under Moses, the moral gloom gathering 
darkness before his retrograde glance, till it ended in 
Egyptian night ! On recalling his gaze, he pauses for 
a moment on Mount Sinai, and sees the lightnings 
flashing, and hears the thunders of the law rolling 
around it, as it stood wrapped in a blaze amid sur- 
rounding gloom, portentous of dispersing clouds and a 
clearer sky ! From his elevated position in the moral 
firmament, he then extends his eye forward to the in- 
troduction of the New, and sees the long expected sun 
beaming and blazing just beneath the eastern hills ! 
He drops his flight, and descends with this anthem on 
his lips to the ages just before him— " Unto you that 
fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise 
with healing in his wings !" The bright Morning Star 
of Bethlehem at length appeared, and soon the Moral 
Sun arose in beauty, majesty, and splendor on the 
world, and beamed the light of life. 
12 



134 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

The Old Testament Scriptures, in opposition to all 
other religions on earth, teach that there is but one 
God. He is there revealed as Creator — as Lord — 
as God Almighty — as the great I Am — as Jehovah 
—as the Most High — as King — as the High and 
Holy One who inhabiteth Eternity. But the Master, 
while he sanctions all these titles, and recognizes Him 
as the Creator and Governor of the universe, expressly 
claims to reveal Him as the Father. This is a cir- 
cumstance of great moment, and in its peculiar bear- 
ings and beauty has been too generally overlooked. It 
is the closing perfection of a gradually developing and 
increasing light of divine Revelation adapted to the in- 
tellectual and moral advance of the world from the 
dawn of creation to the coming of Christ. It began 
with that of Creator of a human pair as the Lord 
God. It advanced to that of the Almighty God of 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It advanced to that of 
the great I Am — to that of Jehovah — that of King 
and Governor of His people Israel — and ended in that 
of Father, exercising a paternal government. 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 135 

The Master not only reveals Him as his own Father, 
but as the Father of all His intelligent creatures. Un- 
til this was done, and while He was merely considered 
as the God and King of Israel, and in a peculiar sense 
the Protector and Ruler of one nation, it was impos- 
sible that His true character in its high, holy, and lofty 
sense could be known or understood. Therefore " the 
Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath 
declared Him and manifested His name unto us," as 
the parent fountain from which we have received our 
being, and who alone stands in this single and endear- 
ing relationship to us as His offspring, infinitely beyond 
what heart can conceive or tongue can tell — and that 
He exercises no other government over us than one that 
is most perfectly paternal in its character. He teaches 
us, that our rewards and punishments are instituted 
for some benevolent end, and are to issue in our high- 
est interest and immortal well-being — that they are to 
be rendered in perfect paternal mercy, according to 
our individual, intellectual, and moral capacity, which 
is but a law in the mind, and acts as a matter of ne- 
cessity w r hen obeyed or violated by carrying with it all 
its moral force as a natural result. That after these 
rewards and punishments shall have been rendered to 
each individual on the paternal principles of immutable 
justice, that He will then, in a holy and immortal con- 
stitution, and in the nature of angels, grant them 
eternal life in the resurrection world, not as n fe~ 



136 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

ward, but as the free gift of His paternal grace, and 
not of works, lest any man should boast. 

He teaches that this resurrection is not general, but 
successive, as the deaths of the human race, and is 
glorious in its character as it is brilliant in its results, 
clothing us in a spiritual and immortal body, which is 
our house from heaven, and not in this natural body. 
And that mortality being swallowed up of life, there 
shall be no more death, sorrow, nor crying, neither 
shall there be any more pain ; that the former things 
being passed away and all things made new, we shall 
meet again in the fond embrace of more than mortal 
affection, and commence our delightful career of rap- 
ture through the eternal world — the true home of man 
— the Father's house of many mansions. This is the 
gift of His paternal love, which He teaches us extends 
to all, even to His enemies, to the evil and unthankful, 
to the just and unjust — that it is infinite and undying, 
and' that nothing can separate us from this paternal 
love — not even death, nor life, nor angels, principali- 
ties, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come. 

He uniformly calls Him the Father, and teaches us 
to say, when we address Him, " Our Father, which 
art in heaven 55 — and compared with His inconceivable 
goodness and parental love, he commands us to call 
no man on earth father ', for one is our Father, even 
He which is in heaven. With the name of father, in 
its true sense, is associated all provident and protecting 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 137 

care, and all that we admire and call good on earth. 
And in the character of father is blended every tender 
and sympathetic virtue — every affectionate endearment 
that can awaken confidence and love in the child. He 
refers to the kindest and best of earthly fathers, for the 
purpose of giving us a faint conception of that adorable 
and lovely Being, who, as the parent fountain 
from whence we came, has kindled up all the bright 
fires of affection that ever burned in parental bosoms, 
and fanned them to a flame ! And though the parental 
character is the brightest specimen of perfection that 
this world contains, and is all that we can, in this state 
of existence, take in, or comprehend of goodness, yet 
he teaches us, that it falls infinitely short of that 
Father who is the parent fountain from whence all 
other affections that ever lingered on earth were de- 
rived ! and hence that eye hath not seen, ear heard, 
neither hath it entered the heart of man to conceive 
what He has in reserve for His offspring, to whom He is 
infinitely more kind than a good earthly father is to his 
own children ! that He is Love itself, and that, in all 
the perfections of His paternal character and govern- 
ment, He is immutable — that He is the Father of 
lights, from whom cometh down every good and perfect 
gift — who is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever, 
without variableness, or even the shadow of turning. 

He teaches us, that all the sorrows, sufferings, pains, 
and woes, in all their blended forms, to which we- are 



138 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

subjected, and even sin and death itself, however dark 
to us, are all instituted under His government as so 
many means to a wise and benevolent end — and that 
these light afflictions that last but for a moment shall 
work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory ! And, finally, that the whole crea- 
tion, which was made subject to vanity, and is groan- 
ing and travailing in pain, shall be delivered from the 
bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the 
children of God, die no more, and be as the angels of 
God in heaven, and be the children of God, being the 
children of the resurrection. 

I would now remark, that .no Heathen philosophers 
in any age of the world, not even the brilliant intellect 
and far-reaching thought of Plato, or Socrates, have 
ever conceived of, and, certainly, have not ascribed 
such a supremely perfect character to any of their 
most exalted deities. Nor have even any of the Old 
Testament writers approached it. The paternal char- 
acter of God is a Revelation belonging exclusively to 
the living Son, and all that his Apostles teach in re- 
gard to it, they received from the Master, and as 
such I have considered it in the statement just made. 
They were but his inspired servants, ambassadors, 
and co-workers in disseminating his doctrine, accord- 
ing to his instructions, among men. 

There is nothing of which the human mind can pos- 
sibly conceive that could be added to its majesty, 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 139 

beauty, harmony, or glory. The living Son has 
placed it before us, invested with every possible excel- 
lency and divine perfection, far beyond what thought 
can grasp — intellect conceive, or eloquence describe. 
The picture seems drawn as with a celestial pencil 
dipped in sunbeams of light ! It is a character, that 
the Master has drawn far in advance of the dark and 
cruel age in which he lived. He has drawn it for all 
future ages of time ! he has drawn it for eternity ! 
And though eighteen hundred years have rolled away, 
and borne on with them, in steady progression, the 
ever-increasing light of science, and the tide of moral 
refinement of feeling in benevolence and mercy, yet but 
comparatively few even in the Christian world have as 
yet attained to any proper conception of the character 
and benignity of Creation V Father. And should the 
human race continue to move onward in the path of 
improvement for ten thousand generations to come- 
continually gatherisg new accessions of intellectual 
splendor and moral beauty, yet the last, most gifted, 
and benignant of our race, wrapped in the powers of 
burning thought, would contemplate with wonder, ad- 
miration, and love, the moral perfection of God's pa- 
ternal character, as drawn by the living Son ! Yes ! 
even the justified and glorified millions of eternity will 
wonder and adore. 

In all sincerity and candor, I now ask the honest 
opposer of divine Revelation, what is there in this 



140 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

character that he deems objectionable ? It is higher 
than the heavens, and spotless as Love itself! Is 
there any thing in it that he would desire to alter? 
Does it possess one trait that he would wish to remove, 
or is there any one virtue of which the mind can con- 
ceive that he would wish to add ? Impossible ! for it 
is a perfect association of moral attributes, all concen- 
tered in infinite benignity ! It is perfectly adapted to 
the noblest conceptions, the finest feelings, the purest 
virtues, the most refined affections, and the countless 
wants of the human soul, whose secret impulses natur- 
ally prompt it, when all human aid has failed, to fly 
for relief or support to some sustaining power in the 
day of distress, or at the solemn hour of death ! It 
even matters not what the various Christian sects may 
believe, yet this is the character that the teachings 
of Christ naturally move them in prayer to ascribe to 
the Father, however at variance it may be with hu- 
man creeds, which ever take their moral complexion 
from the age in which they were framed, and require 
constant revision for future worshipers, as the success- 
ive waves of moral light and improvement roll on. 

As all are agreed as to the majesty, benignity, and 
perfection of the character the Master has revealed, 
and given to the Creator, I ask, how happened he to 
conceive it in its highest splendor, beyond even the 
possibility of any future improvement being made on 
the original conception by subsequent generations ? 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 141 

Perhaps the skeptic may say, that its beauty and har- 
mony are self-evident, and that any one might natur- 
ally have conceived it. I grant that the truth of its 
intrinsic beauty and harmony appears in the face of his 
Golden Axiom perfectly natural and self-evident to 
the mind, as the true character of the Creator, after 
being discovered and presented to it, but how was it 
first conceived and discovered, and that, too, in an age 
of corruption, moral darkness, and Heathenism, and 
when the Roman empire, where the Master was born 
and reared, swarmed with the devoted worshippers of 
thirty thousand gods ? Where was the prototype from 
which he drew his conception ? If it be said, that he 
found it in the parental character of earthly fathers, 
this I deny, as it falls infinitely short in every respect 
of the portraiture he has drawn of the paternal char- 
acter of God. That is itself the prototype without a 
parallel — the infinite and all-perfect Original, robed 
in the majestic solitude of its own unapproachable 
splendor ! and the parental character of the best 
earthly father is only presented by the Master as a 
first lesson to convey a feeble conception, adapted to a 
finite mind, of that parent Power in which ever-new 
and ever-unfolding beauty and perfection will be pre- 
sented to the mind as its powers expand and the ages 
of eternity roll ! 

I grant that the truth of this conception, as being 
the only rational one, and alone worthy of the charac- 



142 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

ter of the infinite Creator, is perfectly consistent and 
self-evident, when once disclosed and presented to the 
mind. But if the character of an earthly father was 
the prototype from which it was copied, why did not 
all heathen nations, in all ages of the world, discover 
it at once, as they all had fathers, and prototypes were 
not wanting ? Why was it not discovered even by the 
prophets under the Old Testament dispensation, who 
had the knowledge of one God, and the same Being, 
too, whom Jesus reveals as the Father ? Why was 
it not discovered by Moses, the great Jewish legislator, 
who was brought up at the footstool of Pharaoh's 
throne, moved in his court, and was learned in all the 
wisdom of the Egyptians ? How happened it, after 
all, among the uncounted millions of our race, to be 
discovered by only one solitary, obscure individual, 
who had never learned his letters? — and that, too, 
after allowing them more than four thousand years for 
the trial and experiment, with plenty of prototypes? 
Why did not the classic Grecians and Romans discover 
it, and the learned Demosthenes and Cicero pour out 
upon it their eloquent bursts of thunder, and Homer 
and Virgil breathe it, and by it doubly immortalize 
their song ? 

And farther, why did not these powerful nations, 
with all their Grecian and Roman lore — with all their 
boasted light of science, discover that there was, and 
of necessity could be, but one God, instead of thirty 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 143 

thousand? And surely they could not even have 
dreamed that all these were fathers of the human 
race, and then clothed them with the infinite and all- 
perfect unity of one paternal character ! It is there- 
fore clearly and manifestly proved, that as no human 
being could naturally discover, by his own unassisted 
reason, such a character in the Creator, so the Master 
was divinely inspired and sent by the Father to reveal 
Him to the world. And well might he exclaim, " Nei- 
ther knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and 
he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." 



144 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

So far from discovering such a character in the 
Creator, even after He was revealed, I now go farther, 
and say, that no heathen, no man that ever lived on 
earth, immaterial how vast his intellect or how brilliant 
his genius, could ever have discovered by the light of 
nature that there was but one God. Their reason, on 
the contrary, left to the light of nature, has ever driven 
them to an opposite conclusion, that there are many. 
And why is it so ? As I have never seen this ques- 
tion answered, nor even suggested, I will here take it 
into consideration. And while doing this, I will also 
clearly and philosophically show why civilization, re- 
finement, and the great depths of philosophical sci- 
ence, extend no farther than the Bible has thrown its 
beams. This is a subject not only of vast importance 
to the clergyman, but one of deep and thrilling interest 
to the Christian community at large. As such I pro- 
ceed to consider it, and ask for a moment the reader's 
attention. 

As we gaze upon the world, and the ever restless tide 
of human beings that move over its surface as their 
temporary home, we witness countless events and 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 145 

changes that appear so contradictory and irreconcilable 
in detail as to lead man by his natural unassisted rea- 
son to the belief, that it cannot be under the govern- 
ment of one God, but many opposing deities. We wit- 
ness the alternation of day and night, of heat and cold, 
and the rise and fall of vegetation. We witness light- 
nings, thunders, winds, and storms, and all the beauty 
of sunny days, and peaceful calms. We witness the 
ocean now wrought into fury, and now its mountain 
billows hushed, and smooth as it were a sea of glass. 
We also witness in human life a scenic picture of con- 
stant change both moral and physical. We witness 
good and evil — love and hatred — wisdom and folly in 
their several extremes, and between them every inter- 
vening shade of mental and moral power and imbecility. 
We witness also prosperity and adversity — health and 
sickness — life and death in their several extremes, and 
between them all, the intervening varieties of blended 
joys and woes. The Heathen looks with entranced 
awe upon the whole mingled scene of transpiring events, 
and assigns a god to each. He has a god of goodness, 
and a god of evil — a goddess of love, and a goddess of 
hatred — a god of wedlock, and a goddess of beauty — a 
god of sleep, and a god of wine. He has a god of light, 
and a god of darkness — a god of spring, and a god of 
winter- — a god of fire, and a god of water — a god of 
winds, and a god of calms= — a god of war — a god of 
ightning and thunder, and so on to thirty thousand ! 
13 



146 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 

The Heathen has a god for every thing — for every 
work, and for every purpose under heaven ! His rea- 
son cannot 3 and does not, lead him to the conclusion, 
that there is but One God. Not a solitary instance 
of this kind can be produced among all the Heathen 
nations on earth, He does not even dream — the thought 
does not enter his brain — that the same God that causes 
light, causes darkness also — or that the same God that 
causes lightnings and thunders to flash and roll, is the 
one that disperses the clouds and brings a calm ! He 
cannot conceive the thought, that the same God that 
controls the winds, controls also the ocean, stills its 
waves, and heaves its tides ! If it be said, that he must 
be very ignorant not to see this — I reply, that this by 
no means follows. Demosthenes and Cicero, with all 
their gifted powers of thought and eloquence, could not 
see it. Virgil, with all his vast conceptions of soul — 
with all his brilliant powers of poetic genius inspired 
by his Muse, could not see it — nor could Homer, the 
prince of poets, and the father of song ! and hence 
they could never understand the philosophy of nature. 
We see, then, why Heathen nations remain in darkness 
and ignorance. We see, why the hidden fountains of 
the great deep of the philosophical sciences were not 
broken up, and disclosed to them — and why these , with 
a high state of civilization and refinement, extend no 
farther than the volume of divine Revelation has thrown 
its beams. Permit me to notice this, and try the pow- 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 147 

ers of Virgil, the Roman Bard, to discover the existence 
of one only God* 

The Heathen ascribes every event to the superin- 
tendence of some god as its cause. If a man slept, 
why, it was Morpheus, the god of sleep, who caused it — - 
and to worship and please him, they must seek repose ! 
If a man got drunk, why, Bacchus, the god of wine, 
caused it, and to worship and please him, they must 
get drunk ! If they had an excellent crop, they as- 
cribed the praise to Ceres, the goddess of corn and har- 
vest, by an offering of the best fruits. If garments were 
rolled in blood on hostile fields, why, it was done by 
Mars, the god of war, and they desired to please him 
by rendering devotion in shedding blood, and braving 
dangers in the conflict. If men felt great love and 
kindness one toward another, why, it was inspired by 
Venus, the goddess of love, and to please her, they 
would pay her at times these devotions ! If hatred or 
revenge rankled in the bosom, it was inspired by Juno, 
the goddess of hate, and to please her, they would prac- 
tice these devotions ! If lightnings flashed and thunders 
rolled, why, it was Jupiter swaggering on the top of 
Olympus, and from thence hurling his thunderbolts, 
which were forged on anvils by Vulcan, the god of fire ! 
If the winds rushed in hurricanes, moved the billows 
of the deep, and wrecked ships, why, it was the work 
of Eurus, god of the winds, who, Virgil says, keeps 
them pent up in hollow mountains and huge caverns, 



1-18 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

bound with chains, and who throws off their shackles, 
and through a hole made in the mountain's side by a 
huge spear, lets them out or recalls them at pleasure. 
Neptune, the god of the ocean, feels a great disturbance 
in his watery empire, rises to the surface to know what 
the matter is, lifts his serene aspect above the waves, 
and sees the fleet of iEneas scattered and wrecked ! 
He gets enraged — upbraids god Eurus for this outrage- 
ous trespass, and bids the winds to return to their mas- 
ter, and tell him, that he had better keep them at home 
in his own rough dominions, mind his own business, 
and let his watery realm alone, and also his ships that 
he is bound to protect, and to remember that a severe 
punishment awaits the next offense ! Neptune mounts 
unseen his invisible chariot — glides over the waves and 
smoothes them down to a level, and then renders assist- 
ance to the shipwrecked ! 

Now it is easily perceived, that, so long as they 
ascribed every event that transpired to the supernat- 
ural agency of some god, they could not dream of 
searching out any philosophical causes operating in the 
several departments of nature, and hence ignorance of 
natural and moral philosophy was the consequent re- 
sult. And as they desired to placate their evil and 
cruel deities, by rendering them homage, by practicing 
cruelties on themselves and others, so we perceive why 
ignorance, barbarism, and cruelty are the legitimate 
results of Heathenism. But when men are brought to 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 149 

the belief of one God, as the Creator and paternal 
Governor of the universe, they are compelled to 
reason, and to reconcile all the conflicting events tran- 
spiring around them with the character and govern- 
ment of that one Being. This opens to them the 
natural causes He has established, and those immut- 
able laws according to which they operate, and con- 
ducts them in the strait and narrow way that leads 
them into the boundless fields of philosophical science, 
mental progression, refinement of feeling, the highest 
virtues and civilization as a natural result, and as the 
noble pursuit and high destiny of the human mind. I 
would not be understood to say, that the Bible itself 
teaches natural philosophy, but I mean that it is the 
only predisposing cause to all natural and moral phi- 
losophy, and I challenge refutation. 

I am fully sensible, that there are as sincere and 
honest men among Atheists and Deists, in their belief, 
as there are among Christians in theirs. And my 
charity and fellow-feeling is as great toward them as 
toward any other class of men. Under the influence 
of the paternal character of the Creator, I cannot feel 
otherwise toward them. But I sincerely challenge 
them to refute my position, that the Bible is the 

PREDISPOING CAUSE TO BOTH NATURAL AND MORAL 

philosophy. It is in vain that they will assail this 
position, for I have,; for years, studied and w r eighed 
all its consequences. I candidly ask how became they 



150 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 

so highly cultivated, learned, and enlightened, as to be 
able to furnish the world with many, not only useful, 
but deep and lofty thoughts, extending from the geol- 
ogy of the globe to the stars of night, and grasping 
even the immutable laws of Nature's empire, accord- 
ing to which the whole moves on in everlasting beauty 
and harmony ? And why have they so deep a sense of 
right and wrong, and of the elevated and ennobling 
principles of moral philosophy ? I answer, because 
they were born, reared, and educated in Christian 
lands. They were cradled, and they stood in that 
magnificent temple, whose foundation pillars of 
strength and beauty rest upon the unshaken Rock of di- 
vine Revelation. There they gathered all their strength, 
and plumed their pinions to soar ! and there , when 
wearied with their empty flight, over a cheerless void, 
like Noah's dove, without finding a resting-place for the 
sole of the foot, they must, at last, return to alight ! 
Can they point me to their equals in Heathen lands, 
either in the splendor of scientific and moral attain- 
ments, or in the charms of refinement of feeling and 
civilization. No ! they cannot. I grant, that equal 
elements of intrant, mental capacity are there, but no 
sun of light and heat to warm them into life-— no foun- 
dation Temple to develop them into moral beauty. 
Suppose they had been born and educated amid the 
surrounding gloom of Heathen night, what would they 
have been 1 The echo of millions of voices from Hea- 
then lands answers, what ! 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 151 



CHAPTER XV. 

I have now briefly shown, why the Heathen, how- 
ever vast his intellect, could not have discovered by 
his unassisted reason, left to the light of nature, that 
there was but one God, and much less could he have 
discovered His paternal character. I have also shown, 
why civilization, refinement, and the great depths of 
philosophical science extend no farther than the Bible 
has thrown its beams. I now advance one step far- 
ther ; and will show, that so far from unassisted rea- 
son, left to the light of nature, being able to discover 
one God, it will lose that idea even after it is once re- 
vealed, and gradually slide into polytheism and Hea- 
then night, if that idea is not recorded, but left to be 
handed down by tradition — and will, at the same time, 
show that even language is a divine Revelation. On 
these two points I will endeavor to be brief. 

We see^ that the present condition of the Heathen 
nations is deplorable ignorance and polytheism, and has 
been in all ages of the world. Though their ancestors, 
in the days of Noah, before mankind were multiplied 
and scattered, had the revelation of one God, one lan- 
guage, and the first principles of right and wrong, adapt- 



152 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

ed to the infant state of the world, yet they wandered 
from this light. Not being recorded, but handed 
down by tradition from father to son, and in their 
scattered condition over the face of the earth, their un- 
assisted reason led them gradually through successive 
ages, to become believers in, and worshippers of many 
gods. It seems to be the nature of man to grow care- 
less and indifferent about cherishing a desire to re- 
tain God in all his thoughts — and hence in their gods, 
as it regards character and number, and in their relig- 
ion and modes of worship, they all began to differ ac- 
cording to the geographical aspect of the country, and- 
its surrounding scenery where they located. This dif- 
ference gradually increased as centuries rolled on, yet 
each retained some of the original germs of divine 
Revelation. This would have been the melancholy 
fate of the Jewish nation also, had not that Revelation 
been renewed to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, with 
gradually increasing light, adapted to the intellectual 
condition and advance of society, and so on to Moses, 
who, as the first writer, gave it, by inspiration, a 
formal record upon stone and parchment in the 
Hebrew language for its preservation. So we per- 
ceive, that though the world by wisdom knew not 
God, still, when by revelation they early knew Him in 
the days of Noah, yet they at length in future ages 
glorified Him not as God, but their foolish heart be- 
came darkened, and they made Him like unto corrupt- 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 153 

ible man, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. 
I have now shown that man, without some record, can- 
not retain the idea of one God by his reason, even 
when it has been revealed to him. 

The first language was a divine Revelation, because 
truth was revealed in language. This should not be 
overlooked nor forgotten. God called upon Adam to 
try his nomenclature by inspiring him to name even the 
beasts of the field. All languages are therefore de- 
rived from one language ; all gods are conceived from 
the idea of one originally revealed Creator, by the mind 
witnessing, in its uncultivated state, the various opera- 
tions and changes of nature ; and ail religions are cor- 
ruptions either of the religion of Noah, Moses, or 
Christ. What is Mahometanism but a corruption of 
Christianity? The idea of many gods, as spiritual 
and invisible beings, could never have entered the hu- 
man brain, unless one immortal and invisible God had 
at first revealed himself in name, which is a discovery 
beyond the grasp of human reason, and so is also that 
of language. God must have revealed himself in lan- 
guage and name. That the first language was given 
by revelation, and is not naturally inherent in man, is 
proved by the history of such as have been by circum- 
stances excluded from society. When found and taught 
to speak, they have uniformly declared that they never 
thought of a name for a thing, but thought by objects, 
and made themselves understood by signs, as do the 



154 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

deaf and dumb. Man naturally sighs, groans, weeps, 
and laughs, but imitatively he speaks. The first he 
never learns — they exist inherent in his being ; but 
not so with language. He learns to speak by hearing 
and imitating others. In proof of this position, those 
that are born deaf cannot speak. Even though they 
learn from others that things have names, yet a name 
they never gave to an object, nor can they be taught to 
do so. Speech comes through hearing, and what is 
derived by the ear is not natural to man. A world of 
deaf men would naturally sigh, groan, weep, and laugh, 
without being taught, and as perfectly as those who 
hear ; yet they could never invent a language, nor 
even words, and write them down as signs of ideas, 
nor could they ever conceive in their brains the idea 
that any thing could have a name without being taught 
it by those w^ho hear. 

The first language, then — the Hebrew — was given 
by divine Revelation, because God could not have re- 
vealed His name and character to man, except in lan- 
guage which is inseparably connected with any other 
revelation, and must have been simultaneously given 
with it, if not before. God is represented as speaking 
in a voice to Adam, and talking with him — as instruct- 
ing and learning him to talk, and to give names to the 
creatures around him, even as a father would instruct 
his child. I care not if they even say, that God could 
not have spoken in an audible voice to Adam, but 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 155 

" caused a deep sleep to fall upon him" and that 
even in a magnetic slumber, where the thought of an- 
other mind sounds like a voice, He made the communi- 
cation to Adam. It matters not ; I still contend, that 
language is a divine Revelation, in which all other 
revelations were given. God is able to adopt any 
mode He pleases which is in aptitude and harmony with 
man's physical, mental, and moral being, whether it be 
in a dream, a vision, a magnet sleep, or any other. 
This does not contradict the truth of language being a 
revelation. In sleep God made known to Daniel the 
dream of Nebuchadnezzar and its interpretation. And 
Job says, God speaketh once, yea twice, but man per- 
ceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, 
when deep sleep is upon man. He sealeth to the sons of 
men their instructions. 

If God spoke not in an audible voice to Adam, yet 
He revealed to him the Hebrew language. It is a lan- 
guage that pertains to a future world, and which, I am 
satisfied, we shall all speak in eternity, for, as social 
beings, we must have but one language there in which 
to hold immortal converse. If I am asked my reason 
for this conviction, I answer, first, because it is divine, 
being a revelation from Heaven ; second, because Je- 
sus, who never spoke the Hebrew language on earth, 
yet when he appeared to Saul, on his way to Damascus, 
spoke Hebrew. The apostle is very careful to say, 
every time he repeats that interview, which in brilliancy 



156 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

transcended the splendor of the mid-day sun ! U I 
heard a voice saying unto me in the Hebrew 
tongue. " And third*, because it is a language of 
perfect harmony, so that when you speak, for instance, 
the name of a creature, the sound at the same time 
responds to, and corresponds with, some passion or 
note of that creature. It is therefore a language of 
harmonious impressions, according with names. Lis- 
ten to a good Hebrew reader in the synagogue, and 
you would suppose he was singing— you would listen 
to a language which cannot be spoken except in living 
harmony. 

I should like to pursue this subject to its full extent, 
and show that the twenty-seven languages spoken in 
Europe, have been with much accuracy traced by va- 
rious writers, among whom is the celebrated Dr. Mason 
Good, of England, to three scions, and these scions to 
one root, and that is the Hebrew. Such, I mean, is 
the result of their combined labors when brought to- 
gether ; and as this would of itself require a volume, 
and as my space will not permit me to pursue this sub- 
ject any farther, so I add no more. 

I will now turn to the final issue between me and 
the candid Deist, who admits there is one God, but de- 
nies any divine Revelation, except what is contained in 
the Volume of Nature ! Before I commence my pleas- 
ing and easy task to present the finishing proof of his 
utter and final refutation, and which will not leave him 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 157 

an inch of ground upon which to stand, even with all 
the aid of his noble Master and theological Oracle, 
THOMAS PAINE, I will first ask him this ques- 
tion — As it naturally requires the highest and most 
perfect specimen of physical beauty and variety to meet 
the wants of, and feed and expand the intellectual 
powers of the mind, and thus enable it to approximate 
the fountain of excellence and perfection in natural 
science, so does it not naturally, and on the same prin- 
ciple, require the most perfect specimen of moral beau- 
ty and variety to meet the wants of, and feed and ex- 
pand the moral powers of the mind, and thus enable it 
to approximate the fountain of moral excellence and 
perfection ? If he gives an affirmative, answer to this 
rational and, I may say, self-evident question, then I 
have only to inform him, that by the first specimen of 
physical beauty and .variety, I mean the Volume of 
Nature, which he admits to be indispensable to the at- 
tainment of natural science — and by the second^ I mean 
the Volume of Revelation, which is equally indispensable 
to the attainment of moral science. Without this, 
there is a void in the constitution, nature, and condition 
of man, and no effort of the human mind, however vast 
and brilliant its powers, can show the contrary. This 
I shall have occasion to notice again in my closing re- 
marks, after considering the doctrine of Christ. 

I will now proceed to select from the Master and his 
chosen companions, whom he sent forth as ambassadors 

14 



158 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

to proclaim his doctrine, such passages as may occur 
to my mind, regardless of the order in which they stand 
as to book, chapter, or verse. To save space I will 
endeavor to express them, mostly from memory, in as 
brief and condensed a form as possible. My aim shall 
be to class them together with regard to their subject 
matter, and as the apostles were but his inspired ser- 
vants to teach his doctrine, I shall consider them 

ALL AS IF UTTERED BY THE MASTER. 

He teaches us, that his Father is the Creator and 
Governor of the universe, whose controlling energy in- 
volves all events, from the most stupendous, down to 
the sparrow's fall — that He even numbers the hairs that 
adorn the human head, and that His government over 
all is in perfect righteousness. That He is the source 
of all intelligence — of all excellence and majesty — of 

all POWER, WISDOM, JUSTICE, GOODNESS, HOLINESS, 

mercy, and truth. That there is none, in the high- 
est sense, good but one, and that is God, and that all 
the perfections of His character, as I have before ex- 
pressed, blend and harmonize in paternal love— yes, 
that God is Love ! — He teaches us, that He is good 
unto all — kind even to the evil and the unthankful, 
and thus gives final sanction to the truth, that His 
tender mercies are over all His works. And, as there 
is no other God beside Him, that He is the only object 
worthy of divine worship, adoration, and praise — that 
Him only shall we serve. 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 159 

He teaches us, that it is our duty, as His dependent 
offspring, to know God, as he has revealed Him, by ac- 
quainting ourselves with His true paternal character, 
and that our highest happiness consists in imitating 
Him, so far as our feeble abilities permit, and adapted 
to which, he has furnished us an example in his own life 
and conduct, as our first lesson, and all that we can 
ever attain to an earth. That it is our duty to love 
Him with all our heart, soul, mind, might, and strength, 
and our neighbor as ourselves, assuring us that love 
worketh no ill to his neighbor. He teaches us, that 
we shall, not only exercise universal philanthropy, but 
refrain from doing wrong to any of the human family 
who are our erring brethren. That we shall not kill — 
shall not commit adultery — shall not steal — shall not 
bear false witness — shall not covet — shall not take His 
name in vain — shall not slander — shall not deceive — 
and shall not only refrain from iniquity in all its forms, 
but avoid even the appearance of evil, and be followers 
of God as dear children. 

And as though the revelation of the paternal charac- 
ter of God, and the example of that character he has 
set before us in his life for our imitation, were not 
enough, he proceeds to specify the various duties we 
are to observe, adapted to every ramification of society 
and condition of human life, from the individual, 
through the domestic and social relations, up to politi- 
cal governments — to the world. Of these, I shall no- 



160 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 

tice but a few specimens scattered through the volume 
of his Word. But through the whole, we shall see uni- 
formly breathed the same one bright spirit of love, 
philanthropy, and benevolence, that he ascribes to 
the Father as the source. 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 161 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Of our domestic duties, he says : 

" Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved 
the church and gave himself for it.. So ought men. to 
love their wives even as their own bodies. For this 
cause shall a man leave his father and mother and 
shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be 
one flesh. Let every one of you in particular so love 
his wife even as himself, and the wife see that she rev- 
erence her husband. Husbands, love your wives, and 
be not bitter against them. 

" Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this 
is right. Honor thy father and thy mother (which is 
the first commandment with promise), that it may be 
well with thee, and that thou mayest live long in the 
earth. And ye fathers, provoke not your children to 
wrath, lest they be discouraged, but bring them up in 
the nurture and admonition of the Lord." 

' Now try these duties by the Master's Golden 
Axiom, and we perceive that the beauty and force of 
their truth is self-evident, and that their practice 
unites duty and happiness in one perpetual and un- 



162 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

broken union, and sheds the sunshine of sweetest peace 
and joy on the domestic circle. And we just as clearly 
perceive, that the constant violation of them is the 
awful cause of all the miseries, jars, and woes that 
sink the heart, darken the brighest matrimonial sky, 
rend to atoms the deepest, purest, and strongest silken 
affections of the soul, and lay conjugal and domestic 
happiness in bleeding ruins ! This is so self-evident 
on the face of these duties laid down by the Master, 
when brought to the test of his own Axiom, as to re- 
quire no comment. The grandeur of their truth can 
only be felt and realized in the beauty of their prac- 
tice. They are the domestic food of the soul, and 
hence we know that they are of God, and that the 
Master does not speak of himself. 

OF THE CHARACTER AND DUTIES OF A TEACHER, 
AND THE RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATION UNDER HIS CHARGE, 

he says : 

" For a bishop must be blameless, as the stew T ard 
of God, not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to 
wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre, but a lover 
of hospitality ; a lover of good men; sober, just, holy, 
temperate ; sound in faith, in charity, in patience. 
That the aged women likewise be in behavior as be- 
cometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much 
wine, teachers of good things, that they may teach 
the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, 
and to love their children; to be discreet, chaste, 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 163 

keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands ; 
and young men to be sober-minded. " 

These duties, when brought to the test of the Mas- 
ter's Golden Axiom, also stand approved, and the 
spirit of love, peace, sobriety, union, and kindness 
breathes through them all, and their practice unites 
duty and happiness in one. Their violation brings 
misery and discord, with all their concomitant evils 
and attendant woes. Hence they are the food of the 
soul, completely adapted to its moral wants as a mem- 
ber of such an association, and give unity and strength 
to the whole body ; and by their observance we know 
that they are of God, and that the Master does not 
speak of himself. 

Of our political duties, he says : 

" Let every soul be subject to the higher powers, 
for there is no power but of God, the powers that be 
are ordained of God. For rulers are not a terror to 
good works, but to evil. For this cause, pay ye trib- 
ute also, for they are God's ministers attending con- 
tinually upon this very thing. Render therefore unto 
all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom 
to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom 
honor. Owe no man any thing, but love one another. 
Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and 
powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every 
good work, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawl- 
ers ; but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men, 



164 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the 
Lord's sake, whether it be of the king as supreme, 
or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him 
for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of 
them that do well. For so is the will of God, that 
with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of 
foolish men. Honor all men, love the brotherhood, 
fear God, honor the king." 

If we arraign these several political duties at the 
bar of the Master's Axiom, we shall find, that they, 
too, will stand the test of the severest scrutiny, and 
that their truth is self-evident. In the practice of 
them we find individual and national duty, interest, 
and happiness blended in one, and the whole is recom- 
mended to be observed as the will of God, and for the 
Lord's sake, which means under the influence of the 
pure principles of filial affection, prompted by the high 
and holy attributes of His paternal goodness and love. 
This mode of enforcing obedience was never conceived 
of, nor adopted by any previous to his day, and proves 
the high origin of his mission. And on the other 
hand, a violation of these duties by individual crimes 
and lawless mobs ever brings anarchy and confusion 
into governments, and misery and distress, in all their 
horrid forms, upon the people. But rendering obe- 
dience, with the love of God replete in the heart, gives 
stability to governments, and happiness to the people. 
Hence by observing these duties, we learn that they 




IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 165 

are the food of the soul, adapted to our moral wants 
as citizens, uniting individual duty and national happi- 
ness in one, and we know that it is of God, and that 
the Master speaks not of himself. 

Or PROMISCUOUS DUTIES WE OWE TO OURSELVES IN- 
DIVIDUALLY, and to all men, he says : 

" For he that will love life and see good days, let 
him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they 
speak no guile ; let hirn eschew evil, and do good ; let 
him seek peace, and ensue it. See that none render 
evil for evil unto any man, but follow that which is 
good, both among yourselves and to all men. Finally, 
be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of an- 
other ; love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous — not 
rendering evil for evil, but contrariwise, blessing. 

" Study to be quiet, and do your own business. 
Walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunk- 
enness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife 
and envying. Be not drunk with wine, wherein is ex- 
cess, but be ye filled with the Spirit. Have ye no fel- 
lowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but 
rather reprove them. 

"Have no respect of persons, and say to him that 
weareth gay clothing, Sit thou here in a goodly place, 
and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here un- 
der my footstool. Be of the same mind one toward 
another ; mind not high things, but condescend to men 
of low estate. Let love be without dissimulation; 



166 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

abhor that which is evil ; cleave to that which is good. 
Put away all lying and evil speaking from among you, 
and speak the truth every man with his neighbor. 
Speak evil of no man, Swear not at all, and do not 
blaspheme that worthy name by which ye are called. 

" Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiv- 
ing one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath 
forgiven you. Be ye kindly affectioned one to another, 
with brotherly love, in honor preferring one another ; 
not slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, serving 
the Lord ; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation ; 
distributing to the necessities of the saints ; given to 
hospitality. Bless them that curse you ; bless, and 
curse not. Rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep 
with them that weep. Remember them that are in 
bonds as bound with them, and them that suffer ad- 
versity as being in the body. Visit the prisoners, 
clothe the naked, feed the hungry, support the feeble- 
minded, and be not forgetful to entertain strangers. 
For the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then 
peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy 
and good fruits, without partiality and without hypoc- 
risy. Pure religion and undefined before God and the 
Father is this : to visit the fatherless and widows in 
their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the 
world. 

" Recompense to no man evil for evil ; provide things 
honest in the sight of all men, and, if it be possible. 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 167 

as much as in you lieth, live peaceably with all men. 
Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place to wrath. 
If thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give 
him drink ; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire 
on his head. Be not overcome with evil, bat overcome 
evil with good. Let your conversation be without cov- 
etousness, and be content with such things as ye have, 
for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake 
thee." 

He pronounces the following beatitudes : 
"Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be 
comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall in- 
herit the earth. Blessed are they that do hunger 
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. 
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. 
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 
Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called 
the children of God." 

He says : " Swear not at all — neither by heaven, 
for it is God's throne — neither by the earth, for it is 
His footstool — neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city 
of the great King — neither by thy head, for thou canst 
not make one hair white or black. Resist not evil ; 
but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn 
to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee 
at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy 
cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a 
mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh of 



168 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn 
not thou away. Ye have heard that it hath been said. 
Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy ; 
but I say unto you love your enemies, bless them that 
curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for 
them that despitefully use you and persecute you, that 
ye may be the children of your Father which is in 
heaven, for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and 
on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the 
unjust. For if ye love them that love you, what re- 
ward have ye 1 do not even the publicans the same 7 
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is 
in heaven is perfect." He then sums up the whole in 
one sentence, which may well be called his Golden 
Rule : " Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that 
men should do to you, do ye even so to them, for this 
is the law and the prophets. 55 

And as if all this were not enough, under the full 
revelation of God 5 s paternal character and his own 
spotless example, to direct his erring children to be- 
come full and perfect partakers of happiness, peace, 
and joy, he exhorts them to put on charity, which is the 
bond of perfectness, and to let every thing be done with 
charity. He thus addresses them through his inspired 
servant : 

" Though I speak with the tongues of men and 
angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding 
brass and a tinkling symbol. And though I have the 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 169 

gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all 
knowledge, and have all faith, so that I could remove 
mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing ! And 
though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and 
give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it 
profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is 
kind, charity envieth not, charity vaunteth not it- 
self, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself un- 
seemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, 
thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but re- 
joiceth in the truth ; beareth all things, believeth all 
things, hopeth all things, endureth all things, and 

never faileth." 

15 



170 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 



CHAPTER XVII. 

These passages contain a sufficient variety as a 
specimen of the doctrine of the Master, and his in- 
spired companions whom He taught and prepared, and 
sent to propagate it. I have no space for more. Here 
are duties for every condition in mortal life ; duties 
for the domestic relation in the family circle, for hus- 
bands, wives, and children ; duties for religious asso- 
ciations ; our duties as citizens to obey rulers and laws 
under political institutions ; and duties that we owe to 
God, to ourselves, and to all mankind, in the various 
social relations of life. 

To secure and promote our own, and the happiness 
and peace of all, we are required to love God with all 
our heart, and our neighbor as ourselves — to keep our 
tongues from evil and our lips from guile — to seek 
for peace, to be quiet, compassionate, courteous, gen- 
tle, pitiful, tender-hearted, and forgiving. We are 
required to do our own business, and not to be busy- 
bodies in other men's matters ; not be slothful ; to 
avoid drunkenness, and to be temperate and sober ; to 
feel no partiality for the rich, but to respect moral 
worth in rich and poor ; to be humble ; to be of one 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 1Y1 

mind, and to condescend to men of low estate. To 
secure and promote our own, and the happiness of 
others, we are required to avoid dissimulation and 
lying, to abhor all that is evil, and to cleave to that 
which is good ; not to blaspheme, nor swear at all, but 
to bless, and curse not, nor render evil for evil, but to 
overcome evil with good. We are required to be hos- 
pitable to strangers, to feed the hungry, clothe the 
naked, to be patient in tribulation, to visit those in 
bonds and in prison, to sympathize with those that 
weep and mourn, to visit the fatherless and widows 
in affliction, and to keep ourselves unspotted from the 
world. We are required to provide things honest in 
the sight of all men, to owe no man any thing, to let 
our conversation be without covetousness, to be con- 
tent with such things as we have, to be meek, merci- 
ful, pure in spirit, peace-makers, and as much as in us 
lies to live peaceably with all men. To secure and 
promote our own, and the happiness of all, we are re- 
quired to resist not evil, to love and forgive our ene- 
mies, to give them food and drink w T hen they hunger 
and thirst, and to do them good, and to pray for and 
bless them when they despitefully use us and perse- 
cute us. In fine, to do unto others in all things as we 
would that they should do unto us— to do every thing 
in the full spirit of that charity which thinketh no evil, 
and to be perfect, even as our Father, which is in hea- 
ven, is perfect. 



172 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

The whole subject in all its bearings is now before 
us. We have not only the Revelation of one God, one 
Religion, and one Language recorded by Moses, and 
the whole adapted to the capacity and condition of the 
rude and infant state of society then existing, but we 
have gradually so much increasing light let in upon the 
world as its expanding faculties could bear, growing 
brighter and still brighter unto the perfect day. The 
whole law was but a schoolmaster to bring us to 
Christ. When the fullness of time arrived, and the 
world was ready for the event, we have next the full 
and perfect revelation of the paternal character and 
government of God, as the infinite, all-perfect, and liv- 
ing Father of His intelligent creatures, as one family, 
given to the world by the living Son ! After making 
known this character, and clothing it in the rich 
beauty of its own moral perfections, it seems as though 
it would have been sufficient simply to have called 
upon us to imitate the Father, without any thing 
more ! But as if to astonish the world by a rich and 
sublime exhibition of divine exuberance, and sink Hea- 
thenism into contempt, and obscure its philosophers in 
the brightness of the blaze, He has given us all the 
moral duties adapted to every possible condition of 
life ! And even, as if all this were not enough, the 
living Son, as the brightness of the Father's glory, 
and the expressed image of His person, has set before 
us a brilliant and stainless example, rendering to Him 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 173 

a perfect obedience, by living the precepts he taught 
through life, and by exhibiting the spirit-grandeur of 
their sustaining power in the hour of death ! There 
he fulfilled his noblest and most difficult precept for us 
to perform, and under the most trying and aggravating 
circumstances that can possibly fall to the lot of man. 
Not only were they his bitter enemies, who had smit- 
ten him with the palms of their hands, spit in his face, 
clothed him in mock royalty, crowned him with thorns, 
and nailed him to the cross, but they were his cruel, 
tormenting murderers, who reviled, mocked, and 
cursed him in his agonizing pains, and even gave 'him 
vinegar, mingled with gall, to drink ! He had taught 
others to love, bless, and forgive their enemies ! But 
will he, can he, do this to his murderers ? His doc- 
trine triumphs, and the righteous Lord returns even 
double blessings on their heads, in that prayer of 
prayers, " Father, forgive them, for they know not 
what they do !." Still more : his love, as the closing 
exhibition of his Father's unchanging aifections, 
moved him to lay down for them his life ! and his doc- 
trine was at that moment crowned with immortality, 
and the Great Master was made perfect through 
sufferings ! 

"He dies ! the friend of sinners dies ! 
Lo ! Salem's daughters weep around ; 
A solemn darkness vails the skies ! 
A sudden trembling shakes the ground 



174 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 

* " Here's love and grief beyond degree, 
The Lord of glory dies for men ! 
But lo ! what sudden joys we see, 
Jesus the dead revives again. 

The righteous Lord forsakes the tomb 3 

The tomb, in vain, forbids his rise ; 
Cherubic legions guard him home, 

And shout him welcome to the skies !' 5 

We are creatures of habit and of imitation. These 
are the two great impulsive energies of our being, and 
hence our characters and habits become gradually and 
imperceptibly like those of the persons we love, and 
with whom we associate. How natural, then, and even 
indispensably necessary to beings constituted as we 
are, and feeling the deep impression and the high ca- 
pability of an endless progression and improvement of 
our intellectual and moral powers, that we should have, 
not only all the varied beauties and perfections in the 
volume of Nature, but all the diversified beauties and 
perfections of the paternal character of the Creator, 
and the perfect example of the Son placed before us 
for our study and imitation in the volume of Revela- 
tion ! The one is just as indispensable as the other. 
The one is the fountain of infinite Matter in all the 
blended harmonies of its physical attributes and per- 
fections ; and the other is the fountain of infinite 
Mind in all the blended harmonies of its moral attri- 
butes and perfections, To enable man to rise to the 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 175 

highest dignity and grandeur of his intellectual and 
moral nature, both volumes are placed before us for 
our contemplation, happiness, and unceasing delight. 
They are the intellectual and moral food of the soul. 
The Master has mingled in his example just so much 
of the perfections of the parent Creator as is adapted 
to our finite capacity, and which the highest and most 
perfect state of human society on earth is destined to 
attain in some future age. It is a kingdom of righteous- 
ness and peace in the soul, which must swallow up in 
its march all other kingdoms, laws, and governments 
on earth, and stand supreme in its own unrivaled beau- 
ty. The gradually softening down of human laws, all 
tending toward mercy, philanthropy, and the meliora- 
tion of human woes, portend that future day. Hence 
we pray the Father, " Thy kingdom come, thy will be 
done in earth as it is in heaven." Hence prayer and 
divine worship in all its forms are not intended to gain 
the favor of, or change, the paternal Creator. They 
were only instituted as a means by which we may hold 
converse with the Parent-fountain and center of all 
moral goodness and perfection, so that through the in- 
struction and example of the Master we may gradually 
improve our intellectual and moral capacities by be- 
coming more and more transformed to His perfect im- 
age, from glory to glory. The more we hold converse 
with—the more we love and contemplate such a perfect 
character, the more we will, as a matter of habit and 



176 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

imitation, become like him, even as we form our charac- 
ter like those friends we love and with whom we asso- 
ciate in the social endearments of life ; or as we form 
an imperfect or even a bad character according to the 
company we keep. To form the noblest and most 
amiable character, we must have the noblest and most 
amiable copy before us as an example for us to follow. 

Should the natural sun be blotted out from the firma- 
ment, and the world robed in night, how gloomy, how 
melancholy, would be our condition ! And how incon- 
sistent would it be for the combined world to endeavor 
to produce vegetation by the light and heat of torches ! 
But would it not prove as disastrous and melancholy 
to the human race, and bring upon the soul a moral 
night of full as deep a gloom, and be equally inconsist- 
ent to blot out the Son of Righteousness from the 
moral firmament by destroying the Bible, and blotting 
out from human remembrance the precepts and the 
living example of the Master, and all knowledge of 
one God, and His all-perfect paternal character, and of 
a future state of existence ; and then set up heathen 
characters to light the moral world, and as examples 
for us to emulate and follow ? 

The doctrine of the Master will stand the highest 
test of his own Golden Axiom. It is in all its precepts 
as self-evident a truth as the Axiom is a purely self- 
evident proposition. With a self-evident proposition 
I commenced my argument in the case of the lion and 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 177 

the lamb, and the food adapted to the nature of each — 
with self-evident truths pressing around me on every 
hand I have pursued my course, fortifying each position 
as I passed along — and at last in a fertile field of bound- 
less extent, blooming with self-evident truths in rich 
variety, and the noblest that the mind of man can con- 
ceive, I stand lost in amazement and wonder at their 
simplicity, harmony, and beauty, and their perfect 
adaptation to human wants and human happiness ! 
And when I extend my thoughts to God, the fountain 
from whence they came, and confine my contemplations 
to His paternal character, I am lost to every thing else, 
and feel but one impulse, that of filial love and adora- 
tion. When the world, my dearest friends, and even 
my own children forsake me, here is yet my consola- 
tion and unshaken hope in one who can never change, 
nor cease to love and protect me. And when I forget 
Him who is the Author of my being, and the Father 
of my spirit, let my sky be darkened — my tongue cleave 
to the roof of my mouth, and mine arm fall from its 
shoulder-blade ! 



1 I 8 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

If ail mankind would practice the precepts of Christ, 
what a paradise would be this dark and distracted world 
of ours ! Human governments would become extin- 
guished and lost in the brightness of the Master's 
kingdom of love in the soul. Love would be the 
Great, Supreme, Enthroned, and Ruling King ! 
Wars, quarrels, fightings, and all crimes would cease ; 
prisons be demolished, and locks, bolts, bars, and fet- 
ters — these sad emblems of crime and human wo — 
would be no more ! The human race would become 
one great family of affectionate, united, and happy 
children, reflecting, in some measure, the perfections 
of the one great Father ! This conclusion is no idle 
dream of a disturbed brain, but sober truth, beyond 
the power of mortal man to resist. Triumphant 
Power is written in characters of immortal light and 
beauty on its front. Let all men obey the precepts of 
the divine Master, and who of mortal men is able to 
show that such will not be the result 1 If any, let him 
speak ! Does the skeptic join with Volney and say, 
that no Christians, as yet, have ever obeyed, and 
brought about such a happy state of things among 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 179 

themselves, but, on the contrary, differ, wrangle, and 
dispute about their religions, and all appeal to the vol- 
ume of Revelation for proof to sustain their views ? 
But this objection amounts to nothing. The whole 
scientific world have ever differed, wrangled, and dis- 
puted about the various sciences, and they all appeal 
to the volume of Nature for proof to sustain their 
views. But do these differences make the volume of 
Nature false, and should it therefore be taken from 
their hands, or struck out of existence? Certainly 
not, but let them go on differing, wrangling, and dis- 
puting, but gradually progressing in Natural Science, 
till they come to perfection, and then all dissensions 
must end. Then these same evils among Christians 
do not in the least affect the Master's doctrine ; and 
let them go on differing and disputing, till they become 
perfect in Moral Science — till they come to perfection, 
and see eye to eye. A child cannot learn his letters 
and become a scholar in a day. And because the 
Master's doctrine is so elevated, pure, and perfect 
that no one has, as yet, perfectly learned and obeyed 
it, yet this is no reason it should be taken from their 
hands, or struck out of existence. Natural and Moral 
Science in the volumes of Nature and Revelation are 
both progressive, and may require ages to bring man- 
kind to perfection in both. They are two very large 
Books, and cannot be read and understood in a day. 
Such objections would demolish all laws, governments, 



180 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

and politics, about which men differ, wrangle, and con- 
stantly dispute. They have continued this for ages, 
and have not yet come to one form of government. 
But they are slowly and gradually improving, so let 
them go on ; they will all end at last in the perfection 
of the Master's law of love, kindness, and philan- 
thropy in some future age, and beat their swords into 
plow-shares, their spears into pruning-hooks, and learn 
war no more. All are advancing, so let them alone, 
for all that is not of the God of truth will come to 
naught. 

I now candidly call upon the skeptic to try any one 
precept of the Master's doctrine he may choose by 
his own Golden Axiom, and he will in every instance 
find duty and happiness united in one. Here he may 
find precepts adapted to the day of prosperity — to the 
season of adversity — to the clay of triumph, and the 
hour of defeat. He will find precepts adapted to his 
treatment of neighbors, friends, and enemies. He may 
there learn his duty to his superiors and inferiors, to 
husbands, wives, parents, and children, to himself, to 
the world, and to his God. He will find precepts 
adapted to comfort mourners, and sustain the aged and 
infirm. The doctrine of the Master is adapted to the 
day of health and sickness— to life in all its varied 
lights and shades, breathing love, peace, mercy, and 
kindness to all. And when the embers of life are 
feebly glimmering in the socket of existence— when all 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 181 

human aid has failed, and the world, with all its scenes 
of written beauty, is receding from sight — when com- 
panions, parents, friends, and children, are standing 
around the dying bed, and as we shake with them the 
farewell hand of mortal separation, amid the falling 
tears of affection, the doctrine of the Master gives us 
the priceless consolation of an immortal hope, that 
points to future scenes beyond the grave, where we 
shall meet again with companions, parents, friends,' and 
children — yes, with a redeemed, justified, and glorified 
world beyond the dominion of death and pain, and 
where tears shall be wiped from off all faces. 

I seriously ask my skeptic friend, whether he does 
not ardently desire this doctrine of the Master to 
prove true 1 Could he sincerely believe it, would he 
not be a happier man ? Is there any thing in all its pre- 
cepts for human action in this life, or in the light they 
shed on an immortal life to come, that he could wish to 
alter '? Suppose that two scrolls were now, or on his dy- 
ing bed, placed in his hands, on one of which is written, 
" Life and Immortality, 55 and on the other, u Death 
and Annihilation ;" and suppose he is at liberty to 
decide his own destiny by a casting vote, which scroll 
would he deposit in the hands of his weeping friends, 
to be opened after his death, and deposited in the do- 
mestic or national archives ? Let him pause and an- 
swer. Is there any amendment to the doctrine that he 
can suggest or offer as an improvement on the original 
16 



182 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

draft ? Or can he invent or possibly conceive of one 
solitary good moral precept which I cannot show him 
in the doctrine of the Master ? No — it is not in his 
power. The work is finished in absolute perfection, 
involving all that is noble in action, and uniting in one 
harmony all that is solid in time with all that is solid 
in eternity ! There is nothing to add to its beauty — 
no improvement on the original conception. The 
Master's doctrine is self-evident truth, robed in 
its own immortal sublimity j and stands tested and ap- 
proved by his own Golden Axiom. And there it will 
stand unshaken, when every thing unsolid in nature 
shall fall. 

As this doctrine gives perfect peace when embraced 
and practiced, and unites duty and happiness in one, 
it is the true bread and water of life that came down 
from heaven, and they give life to the world. Is it not, 
I ask, the true moral food of the soul as really so as 
flesh is the food of the lion, and grass the food of the 
lamb ? It is ; and we can no more resist the conclu- 
sion of the one than we can that of the other. Did 
not the same Being, who is the Father of the mind, 
reveal, through His Son, the doctrine adapted to its 
nature and wants ? Is not this just as certain, as that 
the lion's and lamb's bodies and adapted food were 
from the same Creator? I calmly ask, is there any 
way to avoid this conclusion 1 If so, let the skeptic 
gird himself to the task, send me his production, and 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 183 

it shall receive real Christian Attention — he shall 
not be abused by me. But in Christian candor I tell 
him, that it cannot be done, for it is a self-evident 
proposition with which he has got to contend, and it is 
not in the power of man to demolish it. 

It will not avail him in the least to say, that Jesus 
is not the author ef every part of this doctrine ! Then 
who is ? It is immaterial who was made the medium 
through whon^ the Father revealed the perfections 
of His character, and gave the precepts to be prac- 
ticed. I have considered Jesus only as the Agent. It 
is immaterial whether it was done through an Indian, 
a Negro, or a groveling Hottentot, it is still of God, 
and bears the impress of its high and immutable Or- 
igin. It points with an unerring finger to that Being 
as its Author, who comprehends the mind and its 
moral wants. 

When I am dying with hunger, and a piece of bread 
is sent by some being of affection to my hand, I will 
not stop to ask, nor would I care, in what country or 
field on the globe it grew ; nor where it was prepared 
■ — whether in the gilded palace of the rich and re- 
fined, or in the humble wigwam of the rude Indian. 
It matters not to me who is made the messenger of 
communication — nor would I care that it was present- 
ed to me by the hand of an angel on a plate of gold, 
or by the barefoot orphan child in its humble basket. 
I care not, so long as I find that it is adapted to my 



184 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

appetite and wants, removes my hunger, gives me 
strength and ease, and is to me the bread of life ! 
This is enough for me to know. Of what moment is 
it to me, when 1 am dying with thirst, and cold water 
is presented to my parched lips, to know who brought 
it ? I will not stop to ask from which of the crystal, 
bubbling springs from the great mountain-source it 
came — nor would I care that it was brought to me in 
a cup of gold, or in the rude Indian's wooden bowl ! 
I care not, so long as I find that it slakes my burning 
thirst, is adapted to my nature and wants, removes my 
distress and pain, and is to me the water of life. This 
is all I care to know. 

It is, therefore, of no consequence to query whether 
each and every precept was revealed through the Re- ' 
deemer. He has made a Revelation of the paternal 
character of God, of which he alone is the divine me- 
dium, and has taught precepts in perfect accordance 
with it, that no other man ever conceived. He has 
embodied the doctrine, denies that he is its author, but 
affirms it to be the doctrine of God — that He is its su- 
preme Author, and that himself was only sent by the 
Father to reveal Him to the world, to do His will, to 
bear witness to the truth, and to finish His work. 
And it is finished in immortality, and stands unshaken 
in the living splendor of its own beauty. It is the 
bread of life from God above, and living water from 
the pure river of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 185 

the throne of God and of the Lamb. And as no man 
can comprehend his own mind, so it is not in his power 
to create a doctrine as its moral food, completely 
adapted to its appetite and wants. Hence it is proved 
to be a Revelation from the Living Father through 
the Living Son. And well may the Royal Master 
exclaim : " My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent 
me. And if any man will do His will, he shall know 
of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I 
speak of myself. 55 Whether I have proved conclu- 
sively or not the Scripture doctrines to be a divine 
Revelation, I now humbly submit, not only to the judg- 
ment of the Christian world, but also to the judgment 
and candor of skeptics to decide, and await the de- 
cision. 



186 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Having brought the argument to a close, I would 
now say a few words to the Christian reader in rela- 
tion to the superiority of the instructions of the Mas- 
ter over the teachings of all that were before him, 
whether of Heathen philosophers or Israel's favored 
sons, and shall also notice his magnanimous death, 
compared with that of any other. And here I would 
distinctly remark, that his instructions were supe- 
rior over all others, as we have seen, because they 
unite duty and happiness in one, being completely ap- 
plicable to man's duty and interest in time, and his 
final destination in eternity. They are the alpha and 
omega of his entire being. They meet his moral 
wants, and are the food of the soul in prosperity and 
adversity, in joy and sorrow, in health and sickness, 
through life, and' in the hour of death. But the 
instructions of men who lived before him were con- 
fined to these mortal shores, and principally pertained 
to objects and scenes of momentary duration. If they 
ventured a hope beyond the boundaries of the tomb, 
it was but a hope founded on conjecture, and the trem- 
bling thought, soaring on pinions of doubt and uncer- 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 187 

tainty in that dread abode, saw nothing but a land of 
shadows- — a beamless eternity — where the sweet-blush- 
ing light of breaking day should never crimson its 
orient skies ! There is in the human bosom an aching 
void which nothing on earth can fill — a spark, which 
nothing but the unshaken faith and hope of eternal 
life can kindle up and brighten to a flame. This im- 
mortal life, through a resurrection, was revealed and 
established in the world by Jesus Christ alone. 

Thousands of systems of philosophy had been in- 
vented by the wisest and best of Heathen men to satis- 
fy the restless desires of the human soul, and afford 
mankind that happiness for which they yearned, but 
they all failed to discover in what that happiness con- 
sisted. Philosophy with her keen and searching eye 
surveyed the world. Immaterial how man was situ- 
ated — immaterial whether he were rolling in the splen- 
dors of wealth, or a poor passing beggar from door to 
door, she saw in him the same discontent — the same 
lack of solid bliss. Station and power could not cure 
him — wealth and splendor could not hush his sighs, 
They believed the remedy to be in existence, and the 
realms of philosophy were searched to find it. They 
ransacked the archives of human invention and classic 
lore, and explored the fields of earthly science, but all 
in vain, for happiness was not there. Homer and Vir- 
gil sung their lofty muses in thoughts that burn. De- 
mosthenes thundered, and Cicero shook the Roman Se- 



188 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

nate with his voice ! Yes, they poured their rival bursts 
of eloquence on the world — shook Greece and Rome, 
and gathered their laurels of fame from the raptured 
and applauding crowd — but they all failed to remove 
discontent from the mind, and to plant in its stead the 
unfading flowers of happiness, peace, and joy. 

The moral lessons of Seneca are in some respects 
valuable, and he even enforced them by his own ex- 
ample. The virtues, the instructions, the self-denials 
of Socrates through life, and his unbending fortitude in 
the hour of death, are so many examples of true mag- 
nanimity—of an elevation of soul to which few on earth 
attain. His moral instructions, too, were excellent, 
so far as they appertained to the conduct of men here 
on earth, and he even ventured a bold and lofty conjec- 
ture on human immortality — taught this doctrine to 
the last— drank the poison hemlock as a martyr to its 
sublimity — wrapped about him the drapery of his couch, 
and sunk in death as one that lies down to pleasant 
dreams. He died like a man! Socrates despaired, 
however, unless the gods interfered, of arriving at the 
truth of a future being, while Cicero calls the hope of 
the resurrection the hope of worms ! Indeed, all Hea- 
thens deemed it incredible that God should raise the 
dead. Hence, all that the most distinguished Heathen 
philosophers have spoken or written, has failed to an- 
swer the wants of man as a creature of hope and desire. 
The whole stands in everlasting beggary compared with 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT 189 

that high order of instruction and light poured on the 
world by the great Master. 

Homer sung battles, wars, heroes, and victories won 
in fields of carnage and blood. But Jesus Christ re- 
sponded to the song of angels and shouted the victory 
of all human kind over death and sin, and pain, to im- 
mortal felicity in the highest heavens ! Cicero's elo- 
quence swayed the hearts of Romans ; but the living 
eloquence of Jesus Christ shall one day sway the hearts 
of all, and kindle devotion in heavenly minds ! They, 
like many others, only influenced a nation ; but the pre- 
cepts, example, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, 
shall not only influence, but renovate the world ! Their 
instructions were confined to these mortal shores, are 
even now laid aside, and shall one day be buried in ob- 
livion ; but those of the Master embrace all periods 
of earth, from the creation down to the last vibrating 
pendulum of time, reach all conditions of men, sur- 
mount the ruins of the mouldering tomb, lay hold on 
eternity, and are destined to live immortal in kindred 
hearts. 

Thus it appears, that the contrast between their 
teachings and the teachings of Jesus Christ, is not only 
great, but immortally sublime. While their instruc- 
tions have been sinking into darkness and nothingness 
beneath the rolling wave of time, the instructions, pre- 
cepts, and example of Jesus Christ, have withstood the 
shocks of empires, the convulsions of nations, the 



190 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

rushing floods of infidelity, and are now towering above 
ruin and decay, and shining amid surrounding dark- 
ness and death, like the sun in his meridian strength 
and splendor. Such is the character of his instructions 
for our direction here below, and how far he soars be- 
yond the reach of any of his predecessors even in the 
development of moral duties and obligations ! But 
how shall we suppress our astonishment, w T hen we see 
his instructions on a future state of being, so infinitely 
transcend all that has ever been delivered by man ! 
Without hesitating, he surmounts the dark barriers of 
the grave, pours a flood of light and glory on that dread 
futurity that borders upon it, and takes the sting of 
death away. 

If we compare the Master with the Jewish prophets 
and teachers, even here we shall find that their instruc- 
tions bear but little comparison in relation to import- 
ance, purity, and interest, with those delivered by him. 
They spake of earthly duties and obligations adapted 
to the condition of their nation, but just emerging from 
Heathenism — duties adapted to that dark age, and con- 
fined to this momentary being ; but the Master spake 
of things heavenly, incorruptible, undefiled, and that 
fade not away. They taught, " an eye for an eye, and 
a tooth for a tooth ;" to "love thy neighbor and hate 
thine enemy." But the Master said, " Resist not evil, 
but love, pray for, and bless your enemies, and be per- t 
feet even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 191 

His instructions, as we have elsewhere seen, are a com- 
plete triumph over all selfishness in the human heart. 
They exalt and sublimate virtue, and debase and tread 
down vice in the dust. They are calculated to refine 
and elevate the affections, and bring them into a unison 
with, and a resemblance to, those of the universal 
Father. 

He labored to turn the human mind into the path of 
peace and joy, and to open in the human soul the chan- 
nels of life and enjoyment to the parent fountain above, 
and bade it drink in the pure crystal streams of ever- 
lasting life and love, that flow from thence, and thus 
make the human mind a recipient and constant par- 
taker of the exalted felicity of heaven. He labored 
by both precept and example to make the family of 
man on earth resemble the glorified family immortal. 

Nor did he stop here — sensible of the unsatisfying 
nature of wealth, and of all the momentary and external 
enjoyments of earth which generations had been, for 
successive ages, pursuing, as the only path to true bliss, 
Jesus Christ tore away the vail of darkness that con- 
ceals eternity from time, and poured upon the unbroken 
night of mind the crimson dawn of immortal day. He 
taught the human race that happiness was inward, and 
not of an outward nature — that the human mind was 
the inward world where happiness alone could gain a 
residence — the field of inward beauty, where the seeds 
of contentment and bliss must be early sown — the only 



192 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

soil where they could flourish in unfading bloom, and 
become a garden of delights. Here were the green 
pastures beside the still waters, where he, as our shep- 
herd leads us, and where we are sheltered from the 
outward storms of this tempestuous world. 

Nor did he stop here ! He so ranged earth and 
heaven that nothing in their vast abode escaped his 
searching mind. He saw parents and children, com- 
panions and friends, standing together on the brink of 
the grave, and trembling at its silence and darkness. 
He saw, one after another, committed to its cold and 
silent bosom, and the hearts of the living rent with agony 
as they looked their last farewell, without a ray of hope 
to pierce the shades of death, or to presage a future 
world. They looked upon death as the universal de- 
stroyer, whose icy hand might extinguish not only the 
wasting lamp of life, but also the bright and burning 
flame of reason, thought, and affection. He saw the 
fond mother stand pensive at the dying bed of her only 
son. He saw her kiss his burning brow. He saw her 
shake silently the last adieu, and with a pang that a 
mother's heart alone can feel, he saw her resign him 
to the silent grave, where the light of immortal day 
perchance might never dawn. 

To ease the pangs of parting friendship, that were 
rending millions of hearts at the bed of death, he pro- 
claimed the doctrine of life and immortality beyond 
the darkness of the tomb, but to establish it in the 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 193 

world, he was sensible that his life must be taken 
away by public authority, so that none could dispute 
the testimony of those who saw him die. He knew, 
that the abuse, mockery, and insults of an excited mob 
awaited him. He knew that Jews and Gentiles — the 
world would be arrayed against him, and thirsting for his 
blood. He knew that his own disciples would forsake 
him in that hour of peril. He knew that there would 
be none to stand by him, except a few obscure friends, 
who could do but little to sustain him, by administer- 
ing to his wants. He knew that he should be con- 
demned to a most disgraceful and ignominious death. 
He knew that his hands and feet would be nailed to 
the cross. He knew that he had nothing to expect 
from earth. 

He saw all this mass of suffering on the one hand ; 
and the pangs of parting friendship, and the bleeding 
hearts of mourners on the other. To relieve their dis- 
tress at the bed of death, by giving them the faith and 
hope of a future world, he knew would cost him his 
life, and such sufferings as never fall to the lot of man. 
He knew the price, and he resolved to pay it. He 
stood alone in the world, supporting himself by con- 
scious rectitude, and walked forth in his own unriv- 
aled greatness. He revealed and openly taught the 
benevolent character and unchanging perfections of 
God. He boldly represented Him as the universal 
Father, kind to all, even to the evil and unthankful, 
17 



194 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

and as manifesting the greatness of His love in giving 
His Son to die for the world. In opposition to the 
religious doctrines of the day, he proclaimed the will 
and counsel of God to be the salvation of all men 
through the taking away the sin of the world. In all 
this we perceive that the philanthropy and benevolence 
of the Master reigned universal and supreme. 

He exposed the selfishness of man by the parable of 
hiring laborers in a vineyard. He reproved the self- 
righteousness and hypocrisy of the Pharisees, by de- 
claring, that he came not to call the righteous, but 
sinners to repentance. Every scheme they laid to 
catch him in his words, he exposed by a single sen- 
tence, so as to bring shame and confusion upon his de- 
signing enemies. By images the most familiar, by 
parables the most alluring^ pressed upon the con- 
science and the heart, did he constantly entertain, 
instruct, and reprove his hearers. Well might even 
his enemies exclaim, " Never man spake like this 
man !" 

His greatness in courage and firmness was only 
equalled by his philanthropy and benevolence. Hav- 
ing finished his instructions applicable to all the duties 
of earth — having revealed the character,will, and pur- 
poses of the Father, in relation to His intelligent off- 
spring, and their final destination in the immortal 
world — having declared that he was sent to save th? 
world— that the Lamb of God taketh away the sin of 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 195 

the world — that in the resurrection we shall be as the 
angels of God in heaven, die no more, and be the 
children of God, being the children of the resurrec- 
tion — that the last enemy, death) shall be destroyed, 
and all things in heaven and in earth shall be subdued 
to God, and that God shall be all in all — having 
taught all that was necessary, in regard to the charac- 
ter of God, the duty of man, and all that constitutes 
human happiness on earth — having pointed the dying 
man, and the bereaved heart, to more elevated and en- 
during scenes in eternity, where they should meet 
again beyond the dominion of death, and sin, and 
pain — having spoken as never man spake in things 
pertaining both to time and eternity, with a bold and un- 
daunted mind, which the combined threatenings and 
terrors of earth could neither overawe nor shake ; the 
Master ascended Calvary to seal his instructions, 
and to close the interesting drama of his spotless life, 
by exhibiting to earth and heaven, to men and angels, 
the last, but shocking scene — the overwhelming tor- 
tures of the crucifixion hour, amid the vilest insults 
and mockeries of men. 

From his trial at the bar of Pilate, through every 
insult and outrage — such as a crown of thorns, a mock 
robe of royalty, a bowing of the knee, and in mockery 
hailing him King of the Jews ! spitting in his face, 
and blindfolding, buffeting, and smiting him with the 
palms of the hand — through every outrageous insult 



196 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

of a disordered mob, to his being nailed to the wood, 
not a single complaint escapes him. Throughout the 
whole he maintained his magnanimity and greatness. 
Extended on the cross, the last solemn scene is now 
gathering around him. The morning sun rolls back 
his chariot, spreads sackcloth upon his brilliant disc, 
and bids darkness shroud the world in gloom ! And 
as if to give interest of the most momentous character 
to the events transpiring on Calvary, all nature seems 
to suspend her operations, and there bring to a center 
all that is grand, awful, and sublime in her realms ! 
At the magnanimity of the royal sufferer men gaze 
with astonishment ! On him heaven looks with all her 
eyes, and all the powers of the universe are roused 
into the most intense action, and absorbed in the in- 
terest of one single scene ! Though crowned with 
thorns, nailed to the cross, and placed between two 
thieves, to obscure his glory and cover him with dis- 
grace ; yet it was in vain that mortals labored to dim 
the moral splendor of his character or to eclipse his 
unrivaled fame — his intrinsic worth. Even Nature 
wiped away the shame — hovered in darkness and wild 
terror over his cross — clothed the midday sun in night 
— frowning, spoke in the earthquake's rumbling thun- 
der, and sustained the majesty and honor of God's 
dying son ! Worn down by slow, excruciating tortures, 
and the lamp of life just ready to expire, he prayed 
for his murderers, bowed his head, and resigned his 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 197 

spirit. His foes were struck with consternation, smote 
their breasts expressive of sorrow, while the centurian 
exclaimed, surely this was a righteous man ! The last 
words of the dying Master were, " It is finished." 
And well may an infidel writer exclaim — " Socrates 
died like* a man, but Jesus Christ died like a god." 

He was consigned to the tomb, and to prevent im- 
position, Roman soldiers were stationed to guard it, 
and hold the Prince of Life in death. They were sol- 
diers, whose business it was to die — soldiers who had 
been brought up on tented fields of war, who had stood 
firm as rock against the shock of battle, and un- 
moved heard its thunders break and roll. Such men 
as these, and who had never quailed beneath the glance 
of a mortal eye, were the guard around that tomb. 
On the morning of the third day the guardian angel 
of Jesus Christ was despatched from the Eternal 
Throne. As he descended an earthquake shook crea- 
tion. He approached the tomb of the holy Sleeper 
and stood before it ! He stretches out his scepter and 
smites the sepulcher ! Its moss-grown covering rends 
asunder, and the cerements of the dead are burst ! He 
calls to the silent inhabitant within ! His energizing 
voice echoes along the cold, damp vault of death, and 
arouses the Sleeper into action ! He rolled back the 
stone from the door of the sepulcher and sat upon it ! 
His countenance was like the lightning and his raiment 
white as snow, and for fear of him the keepers did 



198 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

shake and become as dead men !" The Master is 
alive for evermore, beyond the ruins of death, and 
reigns in the spirit and power of his doctrine in the 
hearts of men. 

The human race, though fleeing like shadows over 
the plain, are still in pursuit of happiness, and are too 
often striving to obtain it in the momentary objects of 
this fleeting existence. Some seek for happiness in 
riches, some in stations of office and honor, some in 
science and eloquence, some in the breath of fame, 
some seek for it in deeds of valor on fields of carnage 
and blood, and some on the thundering battle-ship that 
proudly rides the ocean, and thus wreathe their mortal 
brow with laurels watered by the widow's tears. But 
riches are perishable, stations of honor must soon be 
resigned, the tongue of eloquence must be stilled in 
perpetual silence, fame, like beauty, must be laid in 
the cold grave, proud laurels plucked from fields of war 
must soon wither and fade, and all the cares and anx- 
ieties that pervade the bosom or distress the mind must 
be hushed forever ! 

But that happiness, which the doctrine of the Mas- 
ter imparts, shall never, never fade, nor pass off like 
the vision of a day ; but it shall sustain and cheer us 
through life, beat the last feeble pulse of mortal joy, 
and brighten our longing hope for a future world as 
the dark shadows of death are gathering around us. 
This happiness is an antepast of heaven. It shall 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT, 199 

wrap around us, in the mortal hour, a drapery not of 
earth, and through a resurrection introduce us into 
heaven our final home, and be the companion of our 
bosoms 

" While life and thought and being last, 
Or immortality endures." 

This happiness is as imperishable as that God and 
Father from whom it emanates. It shall live when 
the scenes of earth are no more ! It shall flourish 
when all sublunary beauty decays ! It shall roll on in 
immortal triumph when globes are stopped in their 
mighty course ! It shall be remembered when all that 
we once valued on earth is forgotten. It shall shine 
with new accessions of splendor when the sun sleeps 
in his clouds as a winding sheet, and when the stars 
that burn like embers on heaven's broad hearth, are 
extinguished in night. It shall live immortal when 
death itself shall die and be no more. 



200 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Since preparing the principal part of the preceding 
pages for the press, a gentleman from Boston has put 
into my hands, for a day or two, a volume containing 
a series of letters between Miss Martineau and Mr. 
Atkinson, both of England. The work is decidedly 
Atheistic in its character. As nearly as I can recol- 
lect, the Authors state that it was in reality a private 
correspondence between them for their own individual 
edification, without any intention originally of publish- 
ing it to the world. It is well, perhaps, that they make 
this statement, for, though the work needs compression 
throughout, yet I must confess, that the peculiar for- 
mality and arrangement of the subject matter of these 
letters, would naturally lead almost any scholar to the 
conclusion, that they were originally w T ritten expressly 
for publication. The subject matter, however, must 
at least have undergone a careful revision and arrange- 
ment in order to have changed it from the natural, 
careless style of a private letter correspondence, be- 
tween familiar friends, into its present guarded and 
formal costume. 

I am not personally acquainted with Miss Martineau, 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 201 

but have long known her by reputation as a chaste, 
and even eloquent writer, capable of much original 
thought, and, as one of her admirers, I must confess, 
that I have ever read her productions with interest and 
pleasure. But how changed the scene ! How great is 
my disappointment to read her present thoughts ! It 
seems as though her gifted pen had lost the beauty and 
harmony of its rich song, by which she has so long not 
only edified, but charmed the literary world. She is 
certainly the last among the talented and literary ladies 
of the age, who I could have supposed, would have re- 
signed the cheering faith — the fond, and ever-pleasing 
hope of a future, never-ending state of existence, and 
embraced the cold, dreary, and cheerless doctrine of 
Atheism ! I could not have dreamed, that Miss Mar- 
tineau, who possesses a heart so warm in its throb- 
bings, a soul so noble, so generous, and high in its 
moral and intellectual aspirations, and that has the 
love of life, and the principles of glory so deeply rooted 
in its nature, could ever have let go her eager grasp 
on a blissful immortality — resigned the lofty thought 
of an endless progression and expansion of the soul in 
mental and moral power and beauty, and welcomed to 
her bosom the horrid thought of annihilation — the gloomy 
contemplation of an eternal tomb ! Though I deeply 
deplore the sad change, yet I do not censure her for the 
course she has taken. We are, in a great measure, 
the creatures of surrounding circumstances, and it is 



202 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

not in our power to believe or disbelieve what we please ; 
but our minds are forced to bow to the weight of evi- 
dence, or to what appears to us as truth. Were this 
part of moral philosophy well understood by clergymen 
generally, we should witness less of bigotry, intolerance, 
and denunciation. 

Miss Martineau has been unquestionably driven by 
the force of a false and inconsistent theology from a 
belief in Christianity to her present position. This 
her letters incidentally, yet clearly teach. She has 
taken for granted, that human creeds are based upon 
the Bible. She has yielded in this respect to the force 
of early religious education, and read her Bible in the 
light of human formulas of faith. This impression 
she still retains, and believes, that the Scriptures teach 
that create means to bring something into existence 
from nothing — that all things are to be annihilated, 
together with the whole animal chain, except man — that 
man is a fallen and totally depraved creature through 
the personal act of Adam and Eve- — that sin is in- 
finite — that Christ is the eternal God, and made an in- 
finite atonement for infinite sin to save mankind from 
endless wo — that the destiny of the human race in eter- 
nity is suspended on their free-will, and that endless 
punishment will be the final doom of a large portion. of 
oui race. I have only to say, that these doctrines, 
though found in the creeds of men, are not contained 
in divine Revelation. The Bible reveals no punish- 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 203 

nient whatever for any of our race beyond the grave, 
but that all, through death and a subsequent and im- 
mediate resurrection, not in this natural, but in a 
spiritual and immortal body, will be introduced into 
a future state of being in the nature of angels, which 
will constitute our new birth. 

This is a triumphant faith, a pleasing hope, and 
these doctrines of the Master are the true food of the 
soul, because they unite our duty and happiness in one. 
But does the doctrine of annihilation — that death is, 
indeed, the final end of man, afford unbroken happiness, 
peace, and solid joy to the mind ? Is there any con- 
solation to be derived from the doctrine, either in life, 
or at the bed of death, that we shall never ! no, never 
meet again with parents and children, bosom compan- 
ions and social friends, in a future scene beyond the 
dominion of death and pain ? never meet again with 
those master minds, those noble spirits of exalted 
thought and deep-stirring affection who have gone to 
the grave, or with those, so dear to us, who yet linger 
on earth ? No ! it is a cup of mingled wormwood and 
gall presented to the lips — a table spread with loath- 
some food that poisons every solid joy-— paralyzes the 
voice of consolation, and the heaving sighs, even of the 
honest Atheist, are but his unceasing prayer, that the 
whole may pass from him. This doctrine, then, of 
more than seven-fold gloom, is not the bread and water 
of life, is not the true food of the soul, because it can- 



204 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

not unite duty and happiness in one. No ! it is the 
bread and water of utter death robed in its own hor- 
rors—is not adapted to man as a social, intellectual, 
and moral being, and in the face of a philosophical 
Axiom is proved false. 

Of Mr. Atkinson I have never before heard, but 
this may not be owing to any want of celebrity as a 
scholar and author in his own country, nor in the United 
States, but to the circumstance of my having of late 
years pretty much given up reading, and turned my 
attention almost exclusively to thinking. But when- 
ever a book falls into my hands from a source having 
any claims to originality, I am eager to know its con- 
tents. As such, I have given this book a hasty perusal, 
and taken a few notes as I passed along ; and these are 
all the data I have now before me as a guide to any re- 
marks I have already made, or may yet offer. Miss 
Martineau appears in this work merely as an inquirer, 
and Mr. Atkinson as the respondent to, and expounder 
of the queries and difficulties she presents. 

Mr. Atkinson says (page 16), " Mind is the conse- 
quence or product of the material man, its existence 
depending on the action of the brain!" At page 18, 
he says, " When a glass of wine turns a wise man 
into a fool, is it not clear that the result is the conse- 
quence of a change in the material conditions ? The 
thoughts and will are changed. Another glass, and 
even consciousness is laid at rest— no longer exists ; 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 205 

and hence, such existence is clearly but a temporary 
and dependent condition — as much so, as light or heat, 
fragrance, beauty, or any electric or magnetic phenom- 
ena. The same reasoning which induces the conclu- 
sion, that the brain is the instrument of the mind, must 
force a consistent man to conclude that the steam-en- 
gine is not the machine producing, but the instrument of 
that which is produced by its action ; -or that a gal- 
vanic apparatus is the instrument of a galvanic will or 
power. Men turn nature topsy-turvey ; take effects 
for causes to suit their fancies, in defiance of reason, 
and all clear and true analogy. Shall we suppose 
that the music plays itself, and uses the instrument to 
show forth its powers ; not the power of the instru- 
ment, but its own powers 1 Shall we suppose a spirit 
not the growth of the body, but got there, we know 
not how — all manifest imperfections being only the im- 
perfections of the instrument — that all spirit or mind 
is, in reality, pure and equal ; and by the same reason- 
ing, or conclusions without reasoning, are we to imag- 
ine the great spirit of the universe all perfection ? and 
that all evil, pain, blight, death, etc., are the defects 
of the instruments of Nature V 

I have made the above full quotation, so that the 

reader may have one fair specimen of his position and 

mode of reasoning. Mr. Atkinson takes the position 

/m his book, as we see above, that the mind of man is 

the effect of an organized brain as the cause of its tem- 

18 



206 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

porary and dependent existence. But of this assumed 
position he has not, in a single instance, throughout his 
book, offered any proof whatever. Were it not for the 
circumstance that I have given this well-known posi- 
tion of the Atheist, among several others, a thorough 
consideration in the first ninety-one pages of this 
volume, I would cheerfully answer Mr. Atkinson here. 
I must, therefore, refer him and Miss Martineau to 
my argument there presented as an utter refutation of 
his assumed position, and as decidedly so as though his 
book had lain before me when I penned it. One thing 
I regret, that Mr. Atkinson, while he assumes the posi- 
tion that mind is the effect of the brain, ridicules those 
w T ho entertain a contrary opinion, by making compari- 
sons that are not only ludicrous, but wholly irrevelant 
to the subject. In reply to these, I would, in the first 
place, kindly remind him, that ridicule is not argu- 
ment, and that the sword of satire is two-edged, and 
cuts both ways. 

Mr. Atkinson asks, " When a glass of wine turns a 
wise man into a fool, is it not clear that the result is 
the consequence of a change in the material condi- 
tions 1" I reply that it certainly is, for the mind is not 
an immateriality , but the highest and most subtile 
materiality in the universe, whose nature is self-motion. 
A glass of wine may, therefore, produce an effect 
upon its material condition. Mr. Atkinson proceeds, 
" Another glass, and even consciousness is laid at 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 207 

rest — no longer exists ; and hence, such existence is 
clearly but a temporary condition." Does he here 
mean by consciousness no longer existing, that the 
mind has ceased to exist 1 If so, I assure him that 
the body will never again be reanimated, and Mr. At- 
kinson's thinking brain of flesh and blood will never 
more resume its mental functions. Yet, after all, 
though " consciousness no longer exists ," still this 
drunken man sobers again, becomes conscious, and the 
" fool" is once more transformed into " a wise man !" 
But if Mr. Atkinson says, that by consciousness he 
only means a perception of what is passing in the 
mind, such as thought, reason, and understanding, I 
reply, that these are not mind, but the results of mind 
when in its natural self-motion. But what evidence, I 
ask, is this of a temporary existence of the mind, or 
that it is dependent upon the brain for its existence ? 
No evidence at all. Is it not directly the reverse of 
this, and does not the brain depend for its temporary 
existence upon the living mind that developed it. 

Perhaps I may not understand what he means in 
this case, by a a temporary and dependent existence." 
Does he mean, that the mind and body will not always 
remain united on earth? This we all knew before. 
Or does he mean, that as the mind was seriously 
affected by the wine, through some change in the ma- 
terial conditions, that this prove its annihilation? 
But does not Mr. Atkinson perceive that the various 



208 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

elementary particles of the body were also affected, 
through this wine, by a change in their material condi- 
tions, and is this evidence, that these will be annihi- 
lated? This he will not admit, for he deems the 
annihilation of matter impossible. What evidence 
then, I ask, has he presented of the annihilation of 
mind ? None at all, for matter, by a change in its 
material conditions, does not lose its immortality. 
Then for the same reason, why should mind lose its 
immortality on account of any material change 1 Let 
Mr. Atkinson answer. 

What Mr. Atkinson says about the steam-engine, 
the galvanic apparatus, and the instrument of music 
is, as to comparison, entirely irrelevant to the subject. 
All these instruments were designed and constructed 
by intelligent machinists, through the means of exter- 
nal impressions on dead matter. As these were not 
produced by internal development in nature, through 
the energy of the living mind, so they utterly fail, as 
rational comparisons, to show that the brain is not the 
instrument of that mind which developed it. Why 
condemn Paley's watch-story comparison, and then by 
another dash of the pen, give it full sanction % 

That the inconsistency of comparing dead machinery 
to a human body or brain may be perceived, I will no- 
tice one of them. Mr. Atkinson asks : " Shall we 
suppose that the music plays itself, and uses the in- 
strument to show forth its powers — not the power of 



IMMORTALITY TRIl/MPHANT. 209 

the instrument, but its own powers V y In reply I would 
ask Mr. Atkinson, whether the instrument plays the 
music, as the brain, in his opinion, plays thought ? I 
must confess that I am at a loss to see how a piece of 
dead, inert furniture, in the form of an instrument, 
could start, all at once, self-moved into action, and 
play a tune ! He thinks the music cannot play the 
instrument ! and I think that the instrument cannot 
play the music ! As we are now even in our thoughts, 
we must proceed to seek the cause of this music. The 
instrument was planned by a mind possessing the pow- 
ers of music in itself. The mind moved the hands in 
an intelligent manner, and the instrument, by the use 
of tools, was constructed. In the next place, a mind, 
possessing all the powers of music in itself, moved the 
fingers, and made the instrument respond to all the 
harmonies that existed in the player's mind. So it 
appears, after all, " that music in the mind used the 
instrument to show forth its own powers !" If this be 
not so, then surely the instrument would play as skill- 
fully under the energy of a Hottentot as under the 
touch of Ole Bull. Mr. Atkinson says (page 198) : 
"You have the bird's mind in its song, and you have 
the man's mind in his song." I then ask, is not Ole 
Bull's musical mind in the song he forces from his vio- 
lin? and has not Mr. Atkinson at last furnished full 
proof " that the music plays the instrument, to show 
forth its own powers?" 



210 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

The story of Mr. Crosse producing a creature, call- 
ed the acarus, by galvanic process, is stated in the ap- 
pendix by Miss Martineau. As the author of the 
"Vestiges of Creation" has done the same in his 
work, so I would refer Miss Martineau to my remarks 
upon this subject, page 53 to 57 of this volume, where 
the production of the acarus is fully considered. 

It seems as though Mr. Atkinson was inclined to 
throw a vail of mystery over every thing that concerns 
an intelligent Creator, as a first or primary cause. 
And, on the other hand, what all sane persons must 
naturally know, he sometimes undertakes to inform 
them. The two following examples will suffice to show 
this. He says (page 7) : " We know nothing funda- 
mental of nature, nor can we conceive any thing of the 
nature of the primary cause. We know not, nor can 
we know, what things really are, but only what they 
appear to us, and the relation of their appearances. 
The forms of these relations we term laws. Whatever 
is, must have a form of being and action. It cannot 
be what it is not, but must be subject to the form or 
law of its constitution. " 

In reply to the above, I would say, that all primary 
causes are invisible, and yet of these we know just as 
much as we do of their visible effects or appearance, 
because they must stand in relation to their primal 
cause or causes. Mind is as easily comprehended as 
the body, which is but its developed effect, and uner- 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 211 

ringly determines the form of the mind's invisible or- 
ganism. When he says, " Whatever is, must have a 
form of being and action — it cannot he what it is not I" 
I would ask him, who does not know this ? And why 
does he condescend to favor the public with this infor- 
mation? 

He says (page 186) : " Time, space, and causation 
are ultimate facts recognized by appropriate faculties 
of mind. 55 I should like to see him prove this. If 
they axe facts, then they must be effects ; and if effects, 
what, I ask, caused them ? I pause for an explanation. 
Nor can I possibly conceive that they are even primal 
facts, any more than " ultimate facts. 55 He proceeds : 
iQ Creation is a distinct idea from causation, or the 
doings of innate and self-existent powers and tenden- 
cies of matter, and, like immateriality of being, is a 
fancy wholly unrealizable — an absurdity arising out of 
confusion of ideas from false analogy. A man models 
or reconstructs what is, but does not create. His mind 
and will are wholly a result and consequent, and not a 
primitive determining cause. 55 

If " creation is a distinct idea from causation," I 
should like to hear Mr. Atkinson explain in what sense* 
When all visible substances are removed from a room, 
we say there is nothing in it — it is empty. Yet we 
know that it is filled with air. Now, should solid and 
visible substances be produced from air, we could, in 
the common acceptation of the term, say, u they were 



212 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

created out of nothing. 55 If it requires, as Newton 
computes, about four millions of the particles of our air 
to make a speck as large as a grain of sand just visible 
to the naked eye, and if electricity is, as it is computed 
to be, seven hundred thousand times finer than air, then 
surely, to produce solid and visible substances out of 
electricity, we could at least tolerate the common mode 
of expression, that " all things are created out of 
nothing." But in what sense would creation, in this 
case, be distinct from causation, as it is used in the 
Scriptures'? If he, however, means by the idea of 
creation the bringing of all things into existence from 
nothing, in the full and absolute sense of the term, 
then I have only to inform him that the Scriptures do 
not in a single instance use the word create in such a 
sense. He speaks of " the doings of ionate powers 
and tendencies of matter. 55 If he means of dead or 
inert matter, I would merely remind him that his as- 
sertion is entirely gratuitous, and requires proof to 
support it. What he says about man 5 s mind and will 
being wholly a result and consequent, and not a prim- 
itive determining cause, is bare assertion, without any 
ingenuous appeal to facts to sustain him, and, to use 
his own language, is u confounding causes with effects, 
and to lose the little sense which we have. 55 Mr. At- 
kinson, to use his own language, " turns nature topsy- 
turvey — takes causes for effects, to suit his fancy, in 
defiance of reason and all clear and true analogy. 55 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 213 

He says (page 198), " The mind, evolved from the 
material of the brain, is an impress of nature, and 
corresponds with nature and principles of the world 
without, rising from the outward perception of things 
to the workings of principles and laws." I would ask 
Mr. Atkinson, how the mind as an effect, evolved from 
the brain, could be an impress of nature, which he 
contends is a cause ? If the mind be an impress of 
nature, and corresponds with nature and the principles 
of the world without, then his argument involves the 
idea, that there is in nature an infinite Mind evolved 
from an infinite brain, and with which the finite mind 
and brain of man correspond as an exact impress, or 
as a type from the prototype. So Mr. Atkinson has 
at last admitted an infinite Intelligence ! And as he 
means, that all in man, both mind and body, corre- 
sponds as an impress with all nature and the principles 
of the world without, so he has advanced the truth, 
but in a complete " topsy-turvey" form ! If he had 
simply admitted mind in man to be the cause, and his 
brain the developed effect, he would exactly, by a 
chance blow, have hit for once the truth in all its con- 
sistent harmony and beauty. 

He proceeds : " The mind depends on the condition 
of the brain, the brain on the condition of the rest of 
the body — food, stomach, digestion, air, exercise, etc." 
In reply, I would ask Mr. Atkinson what more evidence 
is there that the mind depends on the condition of the 



21-i IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

brain and other parts, than that the brain and vital 
forces depend on the condition and action of the mind ? 
None. Do not the mind and body reciprocally affect 
each other? Melancholy and grief have disturbed the 
vital forces, engendered consumption, impaired diges- 
tion, and brought on dyspepsia, have caused liver com- 
plaints and spinal difficulties, and by these various dis- 
eases have sent millions to their graves. Distress of 
mind has often brought on a brain fever, and destroyed 
that mighty organ. The mind has repeatedly, by one 
single impression, produced apoplexy, a congestion of 
the brain, and caused instant death. The mind often 
acts even upon itself and causes derangement. As 
the mind then can affect the brain, stomach, and, in-' 
deed, the whole body, and as readily as the body in its 
several parts can affect the mind, is not the contrary 
assertion to that of Mr. Atkinson equally true, that 
the brain, stomach, and even the vital force depend on 
the condition of the mind? If not, let him show the 
contrary. What evidence, then, has he produced, 
that mind is the effect, and brain the cause ? None, 
whatever ; nor is it in his power to produce a scrap of 
testimony to sustain his position. 

Mr. Atkinson has, throughout his book, continued 
to make assertions — " that mind is not an entity act- 
ing independently of the body ;" " that mind is the 
consequence of the material man ;" " that its existence 
depends on the action of the brain ;" " that it is not 



IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 215 

a thing having a seat or home in the brain ;" " that it 
is but the manifestation or expression of the brain;" 
u that the brain is not, as even some phrenologists have 
asserted, the instrument of the mind ;" " that the ex- 
istence of the mind is clearly but a dependent and tem- 
porary condition ;" " that the mind is evolved from 
the material of the brain." His object in making 
these assertions is manifestly this : he desires to pro- 
duce an impression, that as mind is only a temporary 
effect, depending for its existence on an organized 
brain, so death will terminate its existence forever, 
and hence the idea, that there is an infinite Mind, is 
not only impossible but preposterous. It is certainly 
unfortunate for Mr. Atkinson, that in all his asser- 
tions, that mind is the effect of the material brain, he 
has not, in a single instance, furnished any proof what- 
ever to sustain them. He has not even attempted to 
prove the truth of his assertions. He merely makes 
them, introduces a few irrelevant comparisons, forces 
their inconsistencies upon his opposers, and then ridi- 
cules them for the position in which he fancies that his 
comparisons have placed them. 

I deeply regret that the book of Miss Martineau 
and Mr. Atkinson was not before me when I com- 
menced the present volume, so that I could have given 
it a more regular and extended notice than the one 
here presented, which was prepared after the principal 
part of the work was stereotyped. But even as the 



216 IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT. 

matter now stands in the body of the work, I consider 
it a fair refutation of Mr. Atkinson's principal posi- 
tions, though penned without any reference whatever 
to his book. 

Though divine Revelation and inspiration are both 
contemned by Miss Martineau and Mr. Atkinson, yet 
in the appendix they furnish many wonderful instances 
of several individuals, who, in a certain state of mind, 
performed wonders and foretold events that equal, if 
not surpass, any recorded in the Scriptures by inspired 
men ! Why, then, I ask, may not the Bible be true, 
and on what ground of mystery do the authors of these 
letters reject it? If they condemn the believers in the 
Bible for their credulity, then on what ground do they 
justify it in themselves ? Let them answer. We 
pause for a reply. 

In conclusion, I would inform the public, that I 
have consented to make it the principal business of my 
life, in future, to defend the existence of a God, human 
immortality, and the truth of the Scriptures as a di- 
vine Revelation, against the assaults of skepticism in 
all its forms ; and I trust that its advocates will not 
only find in me a ready, but a benevolent and charita- 
ble opponent. " I am set for the defense of the Gos- 
pel, for I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." 



♦ 



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